Hitachi Ltd, Japan's largest electronics maker, had a loss in its fiscal first half as prices of computer-memory chips and liquid-crystal displays declined and said the second half will be even worse. The shares fell.
Hitachi posted a group loss of ?110.5 billion (US$907 million), or ?33.12 a share, in the six months ended Sept. 30, down from net income of ?61.7 billion, or ?18.48, a year earlier. Sales fell 1.8 percent to ?3.94 trillion. Four analysts polled by Bloomberg News forecast on average a loss of ?101 billion on sales of ?3.82 trillion.
At its electronic devices division, which makes chips and flat-screen displays, Hitachi swung to an operating loss of ?72.9 billion compared with a profit of ?88.7 billion. The company said it booked a ?73.7 billion non-operating loss in the first half.
"Our earnings were hit by the bad business conditions in the electronic devices market," said Emi Takase, a Hitachi spokeswoman. "No more, no less." Hitachi shares have fallen about 17 percent since the beginning of the year. They fell as much as ?44, or 5.1 percent to 823 after the company announced its first-half earnings and ended Japanese trade down 2.3 percent.
Tokyo-based Hitachi, which is cutting jobs at its chip unit, also widened its full-year loss forecast to ?230 billion, 64 percent more than its August estimate of a ?140 billion loss.
The company said it had a first-half loss of ?42.1 billion. That's compared with a ?166.1 billion profit last year.
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