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5 Japan Electronic Makers Incur Operating Loss in April-June

Posted on: Thursday, 28 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Tokyo, July 28 (Jiji Press)--Half of Japan's 10 major electronics makers incurred group operating losses in April-June, as a boom in digital gadgets such as flat-panel television sets a year earlier ebbed and the semiconductor market slumped.

The five losers include Sony Corp. , whose mainstay electronics business was hard hit by plummeting prices and soggy sales of its TVs. Pioneer Corp. , likewise, was pulled into red ink by falling prices of its plasma display panel TVs.

But the enduring popularity of its PDP TVs helped Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. log profit rises. The company's PDP TV sales were even more brisk than a year before, when Japanese consumers rushed to buy flat-screen TVs before the Summer Olympic Games in Athens.

Matsushita's bottom line was also lifted by rosy sales of digital cameras and air conditioners.

Sharp Corp. also continued to show its prowess in liquid crystal display TVs and secured profit growth.

Fujitsu Ltd. , meanwhile, turned profitable on an operating basis for the first time since the company started releasing its quarterly results in fiscal 2000, due to sound demand for cellular phone handsets and hard disk drives.

The HDD business, however, was a major drag for Hitachi Ltd. and caused the company to suffer a 96.6 pct tumble in its operating profit. Profit also shrank at Mitsubishi Electric Corp. due partly to surging costs of raw materials.

NEC Corp. was in red ink because of the dire performance of its semiconductor unit.

As for the outlook for the rest of the fiscal year, Hitachi Senior Vice President Takashi Miyoshi noted that although the company initially expected the digital products market to recover in the latter half of this fiscal year, there seems to be little room for optimism.

Sony Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda suggested that the company, which slashed its sales and profits projections for the year to next March, may be forced to revise down its estimates again depending on its new business program due to be unveiled in September, signaling a rough start for its new management led by Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Stringer.(MORE)5 Japan Electronic Makers Incur Operating Loss in April-June

Following are the 10 Japanese electronics makers' consolidated earnings for April-June, in billions of yen, with figures in parentheses showing year-before results:

Sales Operating Profit Net Profit

Hitachi 2,048.7 (2,063.4) 1.2 (37.6) -24.0 ( 16.0) Matsushita 2,048.1 (2,102.0) 46.0 (43.4) 33.4 ( 32.8) Sony 1,559.4 (1,612.1) -15.2 ( 9.7) -7.2 ( 23.2) Toshiba 1,298.8 (1,247.9) -1.8 (14.1) -8.9 ( -7.7) Fujitsu 1,026.3 (1,008.1) 14.8 (-4.3) 2.4 (-11.8)

NEC 1,000.9 (1,056.1) -21.0 (16.5) -10.9 ( 20.9)

Mitsubishi 737.9 ( 725.2) 20.9 (26.2) 11.1 ( 12.4)

Sharp 616.3 ( 601.2) 35.5 (35.3) 19.4 ( 19.5) Sanyo 568.9 ( 622.4) -9.4 (13.6) -26.2 ( 2.3)

Pioneer 164.1 ( 163.4) -8.8 ( 5.0) -5.3 ( 1.4)[EARNINGS] END

Source: Jiji Press English News Service

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