Nomura Securities reckons that Fujitsu’s profits for 1988 are certain to top Y100,000m – $740m – for an 82% increase taking it back to the highest ever level it reached in 1984: going for Fujitsu are the increase in semiconductor sales, fuelled by the memory chip shortage, which should grow 25% to $2,250m; domestic Japanese growth in mainframe computer demand, due in part to the race among banks and financial institutions to implement third on-line systems; and expanded sales – up 15% – of large scale telecommunications kit following the privatisation of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone; consolidated profit – taking in all the partly-owned subsidiaries and affiliates – is forecast to be 1.6 times the consolidated – parent company profit.
