In a dramatic reversal of fortune, Marubeni Corp. expects to post consolidated net losses of 105 billion yen for the 2001 business year after earlier projecting a 15 billion yen profit, company officials said Thursday.
The company is pinning blame on one-time losses incurred by restructuring unprofitable businesses and latent losses on its stockholdings.
In an attempt to lift its prospects, Marubeni will slash about 4,000 jobs mainly at its overseas plants, bringing the total group workforce to 27,000 by the end of March 2003, according to its president, Toru Tsuji.
Meanwhile, Chairman Iwao Toriumi will step down Dec. 31 to take the blame for the deteriorating performance but will stay at the firm as a counselor.
Group sales will remain 9 trillion yen, unchanged from an earlier projection.
On an unconsolidated basis, Marubeni will incur net losses of 160 billion yen for the full business year, against a previous forecast of 5 billion yen in net profits. Its pretax profits will fall to 20 billion yen from an earlier projection of 30 billion yen.
But it predicts sales will come to 7.2 trillion yen, up 200 billion yen from the previous forecast.
Pointing to the drastic slowdown of the global economy, Tsuji said the company needs to accelerate its restructuring efforts, which will result in 208 billion yen in consolidated special losses for 2001.
The company's restructuring plan includes streamlining PT. Chandra Asri, a petrochemical joint venture in Indonesia, and Swift Spinning Mills Inc., a textile maker in the United States, company officials said.
By carrying out the plan, Tsuji said Marubeni is expected to achieve consolidated net profits of 30 billion yen in 2002 and reduce interest-bearing group debts from the current 3.12 trillion yen to 2.65 trillion yen by the end of March 2003.