Kyocera's Expectations Revised

TOKYO— Kyocera said it is revising the first half and full-year sales and earnings forecast it made last May.

The company said, late it August, it now expects net sales for the fiscal first half, ending September 30, will be $4.4 billion, down 9.7 percent from the $4.8 billion offered last spring. In the first six months of the past fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, 2000, Kyocera did $5.3 billion in net sales.

Net income for the semi-annual period ending this month had been forecast at $300 million. This has been revised down to $150 million, a 50 percent drop. In the same six months last year, the company reported $442 million in net income.

For the year ending March 31, 2002, Kyocera has revised downward the $10.2 billion in net sales predicted last May, a slide of 13.9 percent to $8.8 billion. This compares with the $10.7 billion recorded in the fiscal year ended this past March.

Net income for the year, first expected to be $817 million last May, has been revised downward 49 percent to $417 million. This compares with the $1.8 billion in annual net income reported for the year ended last March.

Concerning unsubstantiated reports about layoffs at Kyocera, the company said it continues to reduce its cost structure through a variety of activities in response to market conditions. Any further workforce reductions will take place only after all other reasonable countermeasures have been implemented, said the company.

Kyocera Wireless had reduced its workforce by 190 last June, said the company.