Japanese high-tech giant Toshiba Corp said yesterday that it had lost about US$630 million in the six months to last month because of a strong yen and a weak economy.
Toshiba estimated its first-half net loss at ¥58 billion (US$630 million), based on preliminary results, compared with a year-earlier deficit of ¥38.5 billion. In May it had warned it would sink ¥80 billion into the red for the period.
The group, which owns US nuclear plant maker Westinghouse, expects a first-half operating profit of ¥2 billion, against an earlier prediction for a loss of ¥30 billion.
It lowered its revenue forecast to ¥2.96 trillion from ¥3.15 trillion because of a strong yen and the fallout from the global economic downturn, which offset the positive impact of cost cuts.
Toshiba said it was leaving its forecasts for the full year to next March unchanged as “the outlook for the global economy in the second half of fiscal 2009 and beyond remains highly opaque,” it said.
Toshiba incurred its biggest ever loss of ¥343.6 billion in the previous financial year and expects to remain mired in the red this year because of weak demand for computer chips.
The company has forecast an annual net loss of ¥50 billion for the current year on revenue of ¥6.8 trillion. It aims to return to the black at the operating level with a profit of ¥100 billion.
Toshiba is to announce its full interim results on Friday.
Meanwhile, Canon Inc said yesterday that net profit dropped 55.8 percent in its financial third quarter from a year earlier, to ¥36.73 billion.
Canon maintained its earlier forecast for a net profit of ¥110 billion for the whole of this year.
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