July 29, 2019 – Hitachi Ltd. said today its operating profit for the April to June quarter fell 16.0 percent from a year earlier, hit by weaker demand in China’s automotive, semiconductor and smartphone sectors.
The industrial machinery and electronic device manufacturer posted an operating profit of 124.39 billion yen ($1.1 billion) on sales of 2.03 trillion yen, down 6.2 percent. Its net profit climbed 14.3 percent to 120.30 billion yen, a record high for the quarter, helped by gains from selling part of its shares in a British railway company.
“The outlook for the Chinese market is extremely uncertain,” Hitachi Chief Financial Officer Mitsuaki Nishiyama told a press conference.
“Even if the severe conditions continue, we hope to secure profits by cutting costs and implementing structural reforms.”
Hitachi said sales in China fell about 10 percent to 233.9 billion yen from a year earlier and by around 6 percent in North America to 282.7 billion yen. The two regions comprised 26 percent of Hitachi’s total sales in the quarter.
For the current fiscal year through next March, Hitachi maintained its earnings outlook. It expects group net profit to jump 95.5 percent to 435 billion yen after dropping nearly 40 percent the preceding year on a special loss linked to its decision to halt a nuclear plant project in Britain.
It projects operating profit will increase 1.3 percent to 765 billion yen on sales of 9.0 trillion yen, down 5.1 percent.