Japanese glass producer Asahi Glass Co. said 9 April it aims for a group net profit of JPY 39.0 billion for this fiscal year ending March 2002, with group sales of JPY 1.40 trillion and a group operat…
Japanese glass producer Asahi Glass Co. said 9 April it aims for a group net profit of JPY 39.0 billion for this fiscal year ending March 2002, with group sales of JPY 1.40 trillion and a group operating profit of JPY 120.0 billion, under its three year midterm business plan starting from April 2001. The group operating and sales targets compare with initial earnings targets of JPY 100 billion in group operating profit on group sales of JPY 1.5 trillion, it said. Asahi Glass aims to extend its group net profit to JPY 73.0 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2004 on sales of JPY 1.6 trillion and an operating profit of JPY 160 billion, it said. The company aims to focus its business on growing sectors such as the electronics and display sector, while downsizing unprofitable businesses such as its commodity glass and chemicals operations, it said. Asahi Glass plans JPY 400 billion in capital spending over the next three years, with electronic and display operations accounting for 50% of that total, the company said. The company expects its labour force to fall by 300 to 7,000 staff at the parent company, after downsizing operations and spinoffs, while on a group basis, employees will increase by 7,000 to 56,000 in line with business expansion. Of the estimated JPY 270 billion increase in sales in the fiscal year ending March 2004 over the fiscal year ended March 2001, the electronic and display division is expected to account for JPY 155 billion, the glass division a further JPY 85 billion, and the chemical division JPY 25 billion. Asahi Glass will close its construction materials plant in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture, southern Japan, because of decreasing housing starts, and expects to incur costs of JPY 2.0 billion in the shut down, it said. Some of the facilities at the Kitakyushu plant will be transferred to the company“s Kashima plant, in Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo, it said. Asahi Glass expects to outlay JPY 1.1 billion to boost production capacity at the Kashima Plant. In addition, Asahi Glass will suspend its chemical product operations, such as the production of hydrated magnesium, at the Kitakyushu plant at a cost of JPY 6.0 billion. Asahi also expects to book a loss of JPY 1.1 billion upon withdrawal from production of fused quartz for use in production of semiconductors by the end of October. The company will spin off and integrate its ceramic division with the Asahi Furnace Systems unit, anticipating costs totalling JPY 1.0 billion from the transfer of operations.