Japan
Hardware
- Hitachi Ltd. reported a 43% plunge in net profit for the year ended March 31, hurt by hefty restructuring costs to reshape its business and increased tax payments. Hitachi posted a group net profit of 15.9 billion $144.5 million, down from 27.9 billion $252.5 million for the prior fiscal year. But the Tokyo-based company's core electronics operations enjoyed a recovery on brisk demand for digital electronics products. Sales increased 5.4% to 8.6 trillion $78.2 billion from 8.2 trillion $74.2 billion. Operating profit rose 21% to 184.9 billion $1.7 billion. For the fiscal year ending in March 2005, Hitachi projects a group net profit of 100...
