NEC Corp. on Thursday reported an 84 percent plunge in profit for fiscal 2005 due to a drop in prices for computer chips, computers and mobile phones.
Group net profit at NEC totaled 12.1 billion yen, down from 77.2 billion yen the previous fiscal year. Fiscal 2005 sales were flat at 4.82 trillion yen, up 0.5 percent from 4.8 trillion yen.
NEC, like other domestic electronics makers, has been struggling to boost profits as its slumping computer-chip business and the continuing price declines in the electronics sector weigh on its earnings.
Tokyo-based NEC had forecast a group net profit of 13 billion yen for the year that ended March 31. It had initially forecast a larger profit but revised it downward, citing a decline in its broadband and software solution businesses.
It is also setting aside some costs expected in antimonopoly damage lawsuits it faces in the United States, filed by companies that bought its dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips, widely used to store data in personal computers.
NEC is forecasting a 50.0 billion yen profit on 4.9 trillion yen in sales for fiscal 2006.