Toshiba to cut costs by $3.5 bln

Japanese electronics giant Toshiba plans to reduce fixed costs 10 percent more than previously announced, a news report said on Sunday.

It will cut costs 330 billion yen (3.5 billion dollars), which should allow it to secure an operating profit of 100 billion yen in the 2009 fiscal year which runs to March 2010, the Nikkei business newspaper said.

Toshiba, which posted an operating loss of 250 billion yen in fiscal 2008, is one of many major Japanese electronics firms that suffered a slump in sales due to the global slowdown.

Sony said Thursday that it would cut its number of suppliers by more than half to reduce procurement costs by 5.3 billion dollars a year.

Hitachi also plans to cut such expenses by 200 billion yen, Nikkei said.

(c) 2009 AFP