Japanese giant Hitachi Ltd., whose family of companies builds products ranging from computer chips and consumer electronics to escalators and heavy industrial equipment, reported that it lost nearly 110.5 billion yen in the six months ended Sept. 30

Japanese giant Hitachi Ltd., whose family of companies builds products ranging from computer chips and consumer electronics to escalators and heavy industrial equipment, reported that it lost nearly 110.5 billion yen (almost $904 million U.S.) in the six months ended Sept. 30 - the result, it said, of a global slump in sales of PC and telecommunications technology. With total sales down 2 percent - to 3.94 trillion yen ($32.2 billion) - for what was the first half of the company's 2001 fiscal year, Hitachi said it may trim spending further by adding more jobs cuts to nearly 16,000 already made. Hitachi, with operations now employing more than 320,000 people, said its first-half loss was composed largely of restructuring costs, with such charges totaling 73.7 billion yen (more than $602 million). It said the operating loss for the period was 42 billion yen (more than $342 million). The company said it now expects to finish the year in March 2002 with an operating loss of 30 billion yen (more than $245 million). Hitachi said that demand for PCs, mobile phones and other IT-related products was lower than forecast at the beginning of the year. "Sales of semiconductors fell sharply, hit by a major drop in demand and tumbling prices, while plunging prices of (liquid crystal video monitors) also took a heavy toll on sales of displays," the company said in a press release. As a result, it said, sales in the electronics division fell 24 percent to 765 billion yen (less than $6.3 billion).