Seiko Epson Corp, Japan’s largest maker of inkjet printers, widened its full-year loss forecast to a record because of costs to reorganize its flat-panel and semiconductor operations.
The net loss will reach ¥100 billion (US$1 billion) in the year ending March 31, wider than the ¥4 billion projected last month, the company said yesterday.
Seiko Epson will book a one-time charge of ¥90 billion, including ¥66.2 billion in restructuring costs at the electronic-device business, which includes chips as well as small panels for mobile phones.
Seiko Epson is cutting back its semiconductor and liquid- crystal-display (LCD) operations and focusing on printers and projectors to help weather slumping demand as the global recession erodes demand for electronics.
Suwa, central Japan-based Seiko Epson said the reorganization would bolster profit by ¥11 billion next fiscal year, helping it break even.
No full-time jobs will be cut under the reorganization, general managing director Kenji Kubota said at a briefing in Tokyo. Seiko Epson had 93,279 employees as of Sept. 30, its Web site said.
The company will close its flat-panel factory in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan, and focus output of the devices at its facility in Tottori Prefecture, in the west of the country.
Seiko Epson will also shut its semiconductor-production line at a plant in Nagano, central Japan, relocating output to a factory in Yamagata, northern Japan. The Nagano factory will be closed within three years, spokesman Jun Tezuka said earlier yesterday.
The printer maker cut its full-year dividend by 32 percent to ¥26 per share. It paid ¥32 a year earlier.
The net loss would be the biggest since the company was formed through the merger of Suwa Seikosha Co and Epson Corp in November 1985.
The company maintained its forecast for operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, of ¥6 billion and sales of ¥1.14 trillion.
Seiko Epson rose 8 percent to close at ¥1,088 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange before the announcement.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique