Taketo Furuhata, president and board member of International Data Communications Inc., said Friday that its board will no longer express any opinions to favor either Britain's Cable and Wireless PLC or NTT Corp.'s bid to take control of IDC.
IDC had asked NTT and C&W to propose buyout terms by March 29, and the IDC board decided to recommend NTT for shareholders April 15 after examining conditions put forward by the two companies.
C&W then increased its offer to 107,372 yen per share and launched an open takeover bid May 7, and now is trying to persuade major shareholders of IDC.
Furuhata said the IDC board has no plan to hold a board meeting again to comment on the revised conditions proposed by C&W, adding it could trigger an endless war between C&W and NTT to propose new conditions.
"Now it is a matter for shareholders, not IDC. The game is now being played outside the arena (of IDC)," he said, adding the board meeting held Thursday did not discuss C&W's takeover bid.
IDC the same day announced earnings results for fiscal 1998 with great decreases in profits due to the rate discounts it launched to cope with intensifying competition.
The firm reported operating profits of 4.1 billion yen, down 43.5 percent from the previous year, on the sales of 75.2 billion yen, down 9.8 percent on the unconsolidated basis.
The net profits were 2 billion yen, down 35.7 percent compared with the previous year. IDC projected that sales will decrease 20.3 percent to 60 billion yen in fiscal 1999, with no profits or losses in pretax and net incomes.