Fujitsu shares hit 34-year low, after wider Q1 loss

Japan's Fujitsu saw its shares slump to its lowest level since 1978 in morning trade. This was on the back of worse than expected losses for its first quarter, and reports of ongoing negotiations to sell its loss-making chip plant.
The company's shares dropped as much as 12 percent to 297 yen (US$3.79) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange during the opening hours of Monday trade, Bloomberg newswire noted.
Last Friday, Fujitsu said in a statement it had a consolidated net loss of 23.7 billion yen (US$300 million) for the three months ended June, worse than the 20.4 billion yen (US$260 million) loss from a year ago. It was forecast to post a loss of 12.4 billion yen (US$158 million), according to a poll of five analysts by Bloomberg. For the same period, consolidated net sales totaled 957.3 billion yen (US$12.1 billion)--a decline of 2.9 percent from the previous year.
"We are moving away from a defensive stance to go on the offensive, and we will challenge ourselves to achieve further growth. Moving forward, we will continue to go on offense with structural reforms, accelerate globalization, and create new services businesses," commented Masami Yamamoto, president of Fujitsu, in the statement.
According to reports Friday, Fujitsu is in talks to sell its main semiconductor plant to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).
Sources told Reuters that the company plans to sell the plant as part of its overall strategy to separate manufacturing from design, to pursure a "fab-less" business model.
The strong yen and stiff competition have been adding pressure on Japanese companies. Companies such as Panasonic and Sony have started to look to new business segments in response to declining sales. Last Friday, Sharp was the latest Japanese electronics company reported to be considering 3,000 job cuts to reduce costs.