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Hitachi swings to H1 loss, slashes outlook

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CIOL Bureau
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TOKYO: Japan's Hitachi Ltd. posted a first-half loss on Monday, dragged lower by its loss-making hard disk drive operations, and cut its full-year forecast to a level below market expectations.

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Hitachi, Japan's largest electronics conglomerate, posted a group net loss of 10.95 billion yen ($94.62 million) for April-September, down from a 41.16 billion profit a year earlier.

Its hard disk drive unit, which it bought from International Business Machines Corp. in 2002 for $2.05 billion, has been mired in the red in recent years, hit by low production yields and fierce competition from rivals such as U.S.-based Seagate Technology.

Hitachi's results were also dented by struggling plasma and liquid crystal display operations.

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For the full year to March, Hitachi cut its net profit forecast to 20 billion yen from 55 billion.

The new target is down from a 51.5 billion yen profit last year and sharply below the consensus of 45.22 billion yen in a poll of 16 analysts by Reuters Estimates.

Shares in Hitachi gained 8.0 percent between April and September, slightly outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electric machinery index, which put on 7.2 percent.

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