Seiko Epson Corp. said Wednesday it plans to consolidate its struggling computer chip and liquid crystal display production facilities in Japan as it anticipates its biggest-ever loss for fiscal 2008 on declining demand under the global economic crisis.
For the fiscal year ending this month, the Japanese printer maker said it now expects its group net loss to expand to a record ¥100 billion from an earlier forecast of ¥4 billion. It maintained its operating profit projection at ¥6 billion on sales of ¥1.14 trillion.
"We expect the current economic downturn and the appreciation of the yen to last at least until 2010, and the downward trend of prices and demand is likely to continue," Seiko Epson Managing Director Kenji Kubota said at a press conference in Tokyo.