Snow Brand Milk Products Co. on Wednesday posted consolidated net losses of 13.66 billion yen for the first half of fiscal 2001, narrowing the gap from 30.66 billion yen logged in the same period the previous year.

The major daily product maker was hit hard by a food-poisoning outbreak last year caused by its own products, but has improved performance and plans to return to profitability in fiscal 2002, the company said.

In an effort to improve its financial situation, Snow Brand President Kohei Nishi also announced that the company will cut 500 jobs by the end of March 2003 and close four to five group factories. The cuts will bring the company's workforce to 4,000.

It will also implement other restructuring measures and pursue alliances with other companies.

Nishi said the company has formed a partnership with Lotte Co., a major snack maker, in the ice cream business to jointly procure raw materials and integrate their distribution systems.

For the April-September period, the company's consolidated pretax losses improved to 15.18 billion yen from 24.34 billion yen the previous year. It also reported consolidated operating losses of 15.51 billion yen, compared with 24.38 billion yen a year earlier. Group sales increased 3.9 percent to 621.52 billion yen.

For the full business year to March, the company predicts consolidated pretax losses of 22 billion yen, consolidated operating losses of 21 billion yen, consolidated net losses of 24 billion yen and group sales of 1.2 trillion yen.

Nishi said the company needs to promote restructuring measures to cope with the deteriorating economy and return to profitability in fiscal 2002.

With those measures, Snow Brand hopes to decrease its groupwide operational costs by 12 billion yen in fiscal 2002, the company said.