COMPANY NEWS (sm) provided by Dow Jones Online News
11/19/98 Japanese Computer, Chip Maker Toshiba Plunged Into Red In 1st H
TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Japanese computer and semiconductor maker Toshiba Corp. said Thursday that a weak pricing environment forced it into the red on a group basis in its fiscal first half, reporting a net loss of 23.64 billion yen ($194.3 million) compared with a net profit of 9.55 billion yen in the corresponding half last year.
For the year ending March 31, 1999, however, Toshiba forecast it would break even on both at the pretax and net levels because of improvements in the second half resulting from growth in its personal-computer business, expansion of its information and communication equipment business and STABILITY in the price of memory chips.
Sales dropped 5% to 2.498 trillion yen, Toshiba said, adding that it lost money on a pretax basis after being profitable in the year-earlier period ended Sept. 30. The company's pretax loss was 40.99 billion yen against earnings a year-earlier of 8.74 billion yen.
The company said it was hurt the slump in prices for electronic devices, including semiconductors and liquid crystal displays. In addition, the company suffered from problems in its air-conditioning business.
For the full year, Toshiba said it expects to report operating profit of 70 billion yen, down 15% from the prior year. Sales are seen rising 1% to 5.5 trillion yen. Group figures for the year ended this past March 31 weren't available. The company said it expects the second half of the year to be better than the first half, since semiconductor prices have STABILIZED. Nevertheless, the company sees a full-year operating loss of 30 billion yen on its chip business. It expects the personal-computer business to have an operating profit of 70 billion yen. PC sales are seen rising 12% to 770 billion yen for the full year, with chip sales projected to be DOWN 8% at 800 billion yen., The company said it will slice its investments in its chip-making operations by 29% to 120 billion yen.
Looking ahead, analysts said the company's expectations may be too high, and it could end in the red for the full year. "The downside risk is high" that the company won't meet its break-even forecast, said Yoshihara Izumi, a senior analyst at Warburg Dillon Read. Semiconductor prices could DECLINE MORE in the second half, business for the company's consumer-products division could be WORSE than it expects and the company's outlook for the information and communication system business may be too bullish, he said. Economic stimulus measures recently announced by the Japanese government may have only a limited impact on the economy, he noted.
In addition, Toshiba faces risks from the strong yen and harm to its semiconductor logic business from the Asian economic crisis, he said.
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8:03 AM
Copied from the PRODIGY(R) service 11/19/98 08:28
prices have stabilized, sales to be down. whats the deal? mu and all the gullibulls say there are shortages, can't make enough chips<g>, prices going through the roof, good times are here again <g>. dj, tell the truth, your making up all those non verifiable articles aren't you. once again, what does toshiba know they only make and sell it. or maybe it is- make and try to sell it<g>. i finally posted a article, i tried the other day and butchered it. william |
