Fujitsu books annual loss on restructuring fees, finalizes sale of hard disk drive business

Fujitsu books annual loss on restructuring fees

TOKYO — Japanese computer maker Fujitsu Ltd. fell into the red for the just-ended fiscal year as revenues dropped and it booked large expenses for restructuring its business.

Fujitsu said it had a 112 billion yen ($1.15 billion) net loss for the 12-month period that ended in March, versus a 48 billion yen profit in the year earlier.

The company said sales fell across all major product lines, including a nearly 20 percent decline in personal computers and mobile phones. Annual sales dropped 12 percent to 4.69 trillion yen.

Fujitsu remained profitable on an operating basis, which is often viewed as the best reflection of a company’s core business performance. It had an operating profit of 68.7 billion yen, about a third of the year-earlier 205 billion yen.

Its bottom line suffered as it booked massive special losses, including 54.1 billion yen for restructuring. The bulk of that came from costs associated with the sale of its hard disk drive business to Toshiba Corp., including costs to process debts and fees for retired workers.

The company did not break down results for its fourth quarter.

In the six months through September, Fujitsu expects a loss of 65 billion yen, but projects it will make a 20 billion yen profit for the year.

Fujitsu and Toshiba said Thursday they had finalized a deal for sale of Fujitu’s hard disk drive business, which was first announced in February. The hard disk drive business was valued at about 30 billion yen, with separate debts of about 6 billion yen.

Toshiba is to take 80 percent control of the business in July, with the remainder to be transferred in December of next year.

Fujitsu’s results were announced after stock markets closed Thursday. The company’s shares were up 1.7 percent to 420 yen.