Industryweek 3639 Hitachi Promo

Hitachi Profits Plunge 41%

Feb. 4, 2013
While hydraulic excavators sales were down, the company’s power systems unit as well as social infrastructure and industrial systems division, which includes its elevator and escalator business, both saw a boost in sales.

Hitachi (IW 1000/22) said Monday that its quarterly profit plunged 41%, pointing to weaker demand for construction machinery and automotive equipment for the hit to its earnings.

The conglomerate, whose products range from diggers to nuclear reactors, said it earned 20.2 billion yen (US$217.8 million) in its third quarter to December, down from 34.2 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales slipped seven percent to 2.11 trillion yen.

For the nine months to December, Hitachi said net profit was down to 50.3 billion yen from 85.1 billion yen a year earlier.

The company slashed its full-year to March net profit estimate by 50 billion yen to 150 billion yen on 8.9 trillion yen in revenue.

Weakness in the construction equipment unit was largely due to "lower sales of hydraulic excavators due to the impact of lower demand in China", it said, as concerns remain over the strength of the world's second-biggest economy.

But Hitachi said its power systems unit as well as social infrastructure and industrial systems division, which includes its elevator and escalator business, both saw a boost in sales.

In October, Hitachi said it would buy British atomic power venture Horizon to expand its nuclear business overseas, as the Japanese remain wary about atomic power after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

The purchase price was 696 million pounds (US$1.09 billion).

Horizon planned to build two or three 1,300-megawatt-class reactors at each of two nuclear power stations in Britain and Hitachi will take over the task, the Japanese company said at the time.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

What Does Agility Look Like for Today's Auto Industry?

Dec. 4, 2023
Without modern technologies, enterprises aren't able to fully analyze the risks and respond to ongoing supply chain issues and semiconductor shortages.

Electric Vehicles Spark New Opportunities in the Automotive Industry

Dec. 4, 2023
Automakers have increased plans to produce Electric Vehicles to meet customer demand for low emissions. With this radical shift, new opportunities and challenges for the auto ...

Goodridge Boosts Productivity & Saves Costs by Moving to the Cloud!

Dec. 4, 2023
With Infor's cloud solutions, Goodridge has been able to greatly increase overall productivity, cost savings, data visibility, and automation. This case study discusses the many...

Digitally Transforming Data and Processes With Product Lifecycle Management

Oct. 29, 2023
Manufacturers face increasing challenges in product development as they strive to consistently deliver improved results. Discover how industry leaders are improving time-to-market...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!