Japanese electronics giant Fujitsu is to cut a further 4,500 jobs worldwide by the end of March 2002, as it revealed it had slipped into the red.

Almost all the job losses, 4,000 out of the total, will come from plants outside Japan.

Fujitsu has already announced thousands of losses this year in a bid to tackle the impact of falling computer and IT equipment sales.

Now it seems there may be worse to come. Fujitsu said the timing of any future recovery had become "especially unclear" since the terrorist attacks on the United States last month.

Losses to soar

Losses for the financial year to March 2002 will be worse than previously thought, the company warned.

"The business conditions surrounding our group companies deteriorated further as the impact of the slowdown in the United States spread to Japan, Asia and Europe," Fujitsu said.

"Information technology (IT) investment plunged, especially in the United States, while global demand for mobile phones and personal computers has been in the doldrums."

Forecasts slashed

Fujitsu reported a net loss of 174.7bn yen ($1.4bn) for the six months to 30 September 2001.

This contrasts with a profit of 17.2bn yen for the same period of last year.

Fujitsu dismayed IT analysts earlier in the year by hanging onto its full-year forecast. In July, it finally retreated, predicting a full year net loss of 220bn yen.

Now it sees that loss reaching to 350bn yen.

Restructuring costs rise

Fujitsu has said restructuring costs would be higher than previously thought.

It will now take a charge of 350bn yen in the current year to March 2002 instead of the 300bn it had planned.

The firm will slash investment in its chip-making business this year by 120bn yen.

Output to fall

Output of chips is now expected to be 30% lower than last year. The firm slashed its target to 425bn yen, after shaving it to 475bn in July.

The electronics division, which makes semconductors, had operating losses of 35bn yen.

Losses in the communications equipment division matched this, also 35bn yen.

Flash memory for mobile phones has been an area of business particularly hard hit amid the sharp slowdown in handset demand.