HITACHI ADR : Hitachi posts Q3 loss, repeats big loss forecast
February 03, 2009 at 11:57 am IST
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Hitachi Ltd , Japan's biggest electronics maker, posted a quarterly loss on struggling chip operations and a slump in demand for electronics products, and reaffirmed a forecast for a $7.8 billion yen annual loss -- which would be the biggest ever by a Japanese manufacturer.
Hitachi booked an October-December net loss of 371 billion yen ($4.13 billion) against a 12.5 billion yen profit a year earlier. The result was also dented by a firmer yen and a writedown of deferred tax assets after taxable income across the group fell.
The company, whose products range from rice cookers to nuclear reactors, repeated its projection to post a net loss of 700 billion yen in the year to March.
Along with its big loss warning, Hitachi said last week it would exit unprofitable businesses, close plants and take other restructuring steps in a bid to cut 200 billion yen in fixed costs by March 2010.
The announcement triggered a 17 percent dive in the company's share price to a near 29-year low, adding to a 50 percent plunge since the beginning of the business year in April. The electronics machinery subindex tumbled 46 percent since April.
Hitachi specializes in manufacturing and marketing of electronic and industrial equipments. Net sales (including intragroup) break down by family of products and services as follows:
- social infrastructure and industrial systems (24.7%): elevators, escalators, industrial facilities, railway systems, power generation units, etc. The group also provides engineering and construction of nuclear, hydroelectric, and thermal power plants services;
- information and telecommunications products and services (20.1%): systems integration, cloud computing, software, servers, hard disks, PCs, ATMs, data communication base stations, payment terminals, etc.;
- materials and components (16.6%): semi-conductor materials, printed circuit cards, cables, copper and forged steel products, magnetic materials, organic and inorganic chemical products, etc.;
- construction equipment (10%) : hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, mining equipment, etc.;
- automotive systems (9.4%): powertrain systems, control systems, etc.;
- electronic products (9.2%): fiber-optic components, screen tubes, testing and measurement equipment, medical equipment, equipment for manufacturing semiconductors, etc.;
- household appliances (4.7%): heating and air conditioning equipments, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.;
- other (5.3%): mainly transport, financial and logistical services.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Japan (49.2%), Asia (21.3%), North America (12.7%), Europe (10.8%) and other (6%).
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