Sanyo Electric Co. expects to post a group net loss for the second consecutive year in the business year ending in March 2010, company officials said Friday.
Although the company was initially projected to break even, it now plans to book billions of yen in extra costs for a voluntary retirement program and a recall of washer-dryer units, they said.
After using a special allowance to solicit voluntary retirements for 11 days until Thursday, Sanyo got retirement bids from more than 800 employees, the officials said.
Separately, Sanyo said it will recall for a second time some 280,000 washer-dryer units covering nine models because repairs in the first recall were inadequate.
The announcement came after one of its Top Open Drum washer-dryers caught fire and injured two people in Ibaraki Prefecture on Sept. 3.
The cause of the fire was laid to a repair mistake from the previous recall. The recall is effectively the fifth involving Sanyo washer-dryers.