Japan's biggest electronics maker, Hitachi, has just announced its quarterly financial results, with a recorded net loss of 371 billion yen (approximately $4.13 billion), for the October-December quarter. In light of the new numbers, the company has also reaffirmed its forecast for the annual financial results, with an estimated one-year loss of $7.8 billion, which will represent the biggest financial deficit ever recorded by a Japanese manufacturer.

As expected, the main reason for the low Q3 results is the global recession, which is choking most of the business segments. The 55 percent-owned semiconductor affiliate, Renesas Technology, which has suffered from the poor demand for chip used in cars, TVs, cameras and hard drives, is one of Hitachi's biggest issues.

The company has said that it now plans to exit the unprofitable businesses, close plants and take several other measures, in an attempt to save 200 billion yen in fix cuts, by March 2010. “We are bringing forward our restructuring efforts in the hope that these will bear fruit from the first quarter that starts in April,” Hitachi Senior Vice President Toyoaki Nakamura reveals.

In the same period last year, Hitachi recorded a profit of 12.5 billion yen, compared with the 371 billion yen loss registered in Q3 2008. The operating loss was of 14.5 bullion yen, compared with a profit of 77.9 billion yen a year earlier, while sales were down 16 percent to 2.3 trillion yen.

Hitachi is expected to take some considerable restructuring plans, including a reduction of its workforce especially in the auto, TV and digital media segments, also cutting its subsidiaries and executives' pay and bonuses. Talking about the expected workforce reduction, Toyoaki Nakamura comments by saying that “I think my life will be tough.”

In related news, Hitachi has just announced the appointment of Massao Hisada as the new CEO of the Americas and chairman of Hitachi America, thus replacing Tadahiko Ishigaki, who has been appointed executive vice president and executive officer of Hitachi Plant Technologies. The change will take place after April 1, 2009.