<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Toshiba expects $408m operating loss
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Weak interim results likely as chip prices and demand fall; full-year forecast also slashed </TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
The main drain is coming from microchips, with Toshiba expecting losses of 65 billion yen (S$884 million) in this business for the full year. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->TOKYO: Electronics conglomerate Toshiba said it now expects an operating loss for the first half of its financial year and slashed its full-year forecast to below market expectations because of a weak semiconductor market.
The industry is beset by falling prices and excess capacity. Sliding prices of Nand chips - used to store songs and pictures in portable music players, digital cameras and cellphones - are also hurting Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor.
Yesterday, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing had its credit outlook cut to 'negative' by Moody's over concerns that chip demand will fall.
Toshiba, the world's No. 2 maker of Nand flash memory, expects an operating loss of 30 billion yen (S$408 million) for the April-September period, against its earlier forecast of a 70 billion yen profit.
This would mark Toshiba's first operating loss for the first half in five years. In the corresponding period last year, it had posted an operating profit of 82.5 billion yen.
Mr Fujio Ando, a senior managing director at Chibagin Asset Management, blamed the poor figures on a fall in consumer spending as the global economy weakens: 'The impact from Nand is huge because Toshiba has poured most of its energy and capital investment into the business. Apart from solar panels, flat-screen TV sets and Blu-ray discs, there's no area of growth in digital products.'
For the full year ending March, Toshiba cut its outlook to an operating profit of 150 billion yen, against its previous forecast of 290 billion yen. It expects to post a 65 billion yen loss on semiconductors in the year to March - 155 billion yen below its April forecast - because of price falls in Nand and weak sales of system chips.
'The outlook cut is due almost entirely to losses in the chip business, and we will concentrate our efforts on turning that around in the next business year,' Mr Fumio Muraoka, Toshiba's corporate executive vice-president, said at a news conference. He added that the company is considering pushing back capital investment plans for its chip business.
It raised the annual profit outlook for its social infrastructure business by 20 billion yen to 150 billion yen, given strong sales of thermal and nuclear power, but did not raise its overall profit forecast. REUTERS
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Weak interim results likely as chip prices and demand fall; full-year forecast also slashed </TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
The main drain is coming from microchips, with Toshiba expecting losses of 65 billion yen (S$884 million) in this business for the full year. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->TOKYO: Electronics conglomerate Toshiba said it now expects an operating loss for the first half of its financial year and slashed its full-year forecast to below market expectations because of a weak semiconductor market.
The industry is beset by falling prices and excess capacity. Sliding prices of Nand chips - used to store songs and pictures in portable music players, digital cameras and cellphones - are also hurting Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor.
Yesterday, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing had its credit outlook cut to 'negative' by Moody's over concerns that chip demand will fall.
Toshiba, the world's No. 2 maker of Nand flash memory, expects an operating loss of 30 billion yen (S$408 million) for the April-September period, against its earlier forecast of a 70 billion yen profit.
This would mark Toshiba's first operating loss for the first half in five years. In the corresponding period last year, it had posted an operating profit of 82.5 billion yen.
Mr Fujio Ando, a senior managing director at Chibagin Asset Management, blamed the poor figures on a fall in consumer spending as the global economy weakens: 'The impact from Nand is huge because Toshiba has poured most of its energy and capital investment into the business. Apart from solar panels, flat-screen TV sets and Blu-ray discs, there's no area of growth in digital products.'
For the full year ending March, Toshiba cut its outlook to an operating profit of 150 billion yen, against its previous forecast of 290 billion yen. It expects to post a 65 billion yen loss on semiconductors in the year to March - 155 billion yen below its April forecast - because of price falls in Nand and weak sales of system chips.
'The outlook cut is due almost entirely to losses in the chip business, and we will concentrate our efforts on turning that around in the next business year,' Mr Fumio Muraoka, Toshiba's corporate executive vice-president, said at a news conference. He added that the company is considering pushing back capital investment plans for its chip business.
It raised the annual profit outlook for its social infrastructure business by 20 billion yen to 150 billion yen, given strong sales of thermal and nuclear power, but did not raise its overall profit forecast. REUTERS
