With poor demand at home and problems in Asia, poor figures from Hitachi were expected. But with plummeting DRAM prices, the company’s downturn accelerated in the second half and it ended the year with revenues down 1.2% to $63.6bn. Income for the year plunged 96% to $26m but the group lost $24.6m in the second six months. With 975 subsidiaries, including 292 corporations outside Japan, there is a vast variation in experiences over the year. Sales of high-end mainframe computer systems remained strong, especially in overseas markets, says the company, which has benefited from concern about Year 2000 problems. There was also a healthy increase of sales in PC peripherals and related products, such as color display tubes, CD-ROM and monitors. The downturn did not lead to a cutback in R&D spending which was up 1% to $3.bn. Plant and equipment investment fell 4% to $5.4bn, with the top priority being given to the electronics sector. The big pain has come from the DRAM market where the company reports a fall in prices of two-thirds in the year. But it is planning to invest in a bitterly competitive market by putting $80m into its Hitachi PC Corp US subsidiary so its can expand it product line. However the business is to be more closely integrated into the parent company’s operation at the cost of 40 jobs. Servers aimed at the small to medium sized business market are to be added to its product line.
