Loss-making NEC to cut 10,000 jobs

Loss-making Japanese electronics giant NEC on Thursday announced 10,000 jobs cuts in its operations around the world. In a presentation accompanying its third-quarter results it said it was projecting a loss of 100 billion yen ($1.3 billion) for the financial year ending in March 2012 and would not be paying a dividend. It said it would reduce headcount by 7,000 in Japan and 3,000 overseas. The changes were to bring about "restructuring in businesses that require immediate reform", it said, and would give it a "business structure with high profitability". NEC, which provides technology services and makes computers and electronic devices, said some areas of business had suffered from "drastic changes in (the) Japanese market", with foreign vendors' market share increasing. It posted a net loss of 97.5 billion yen for the nine months to December, compared with a 53.6 billion yen loss in the corresponding period a year previously. NEC revised downward its sales forecast for the full year to March by 0.5 percent to 3.1 trillion yen, expecting to post a net loss of 100 billion yen.