Due to lackluster sales of personal computers and electronic devices, NEC Corp. announced Wednesday that its consolidated net profit will plunge to 45 billion yen in the 1997 business year, down 51 percent from its previous estimate of 80 billion yen."Investment in information technology was supposed to show much sharper growth this year, but with the current economic uncertainties stemming from the troubled financial system in Japan, many firms are moving to postpone such spending," said Shigeo Matsumoto, managing director at NEC.The company's forecast for its domestic shipments of personal computers for the business year that ends March 31 was revised downward from 3.7 million units to 3.25 million units. The company also revised its group's projected sales downward from 5.25 trillion yen to 5.05 trillion yen.Its consolidated pretax profit will reach 100 billion yen in the current year, down 40 billion yen from the earlier forecast, and its operating profit will be revised downward from initial projection of 240 billion yen to 200 billion yen, the firm said.NEC also attributed the fall in its profit to continued price drops in memory chips and other semiconductors. As a result, NEC group trimmed its semiconductor-related investments by 10 billion yen to 180 billion yen for the current business year, according to the firm.The company also expects losses caused by the currency turmoil in Asia to reach 5 billion yen to 6 billion yen.
