NEC Corp’s fiscal first half loss (figures in Company Results) mean that the company may well report a second consecutive full-year loss, analysts say: I see no favourable factor that could buoy NEC’s group profits in the second half of the current business year, said Sumiyuki Kazama, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd – Severe business conditions could continue for at least two to three years for NEC; the company was hit hard by lower sales of personal computers, mainframes and telecommunications equipment at the parent firm, NEC said – group sales of computers and other information equipment dropped 4.7% during the period, while those of telecommunications equipment fell 5.2%; the company is seeing strong sales of notebook computers, semiconductors and colour liquid-crystal displays, so it still looks for consolidated pre-tax profits of $370m for the year to next March; NEC now makes only a quarter as many different personal computer processor boards as it did a year ago, and also boosted its market share of workstations in Japan to 25% now from just 8% in 1991-92.
