Hitachi Ltd. posted a 52 percent drop in quarterly profit after selling a hard-disk drive unit and experiencing weaker demand amid the global economic slowdown.
Net income fell to ¥23.1 billion in the three months that ended in September from ¥48 billion a year earlier. The average of three analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a profit of ¥37.1 billion.
Hitachi also announced the acquisition of a U.K. nuclear-power company as it moves its focus from electronics to infrastructure and power. The company sold its hard-disk drive unit to Western Digital Corp. in March, and shed its stakes in Elpida Memory Inc. and a liquid-crystal display business.
"Hitachi is seeing the impact of its restructuring," said Takeo Miyamoto, a Tokyo-based analyst at Deutsche Bank AG. "It's no longer receiving the profits from the hard-disk drive unit. The slowdown in the economy is also having an impact."
The company agreed to buy Horizon Nuclear Power from EON AG and RWE AG, according to a separate statement. Horizon has government backing to build plants in Wales and England.
The company left its forecast for annual net income at ¥200 billion.