JP/12/CorporateBrief

Fujitsu sees sharp profit rebound

TOKYO: Japan's computer giant Fujitsu Ltd. is likely to post a sharp rebound in operating profit in the year to March 2003 thanks to massive job cuts and other cost reductions, a report said Tuesday.

Fujitsu's group operating profit would rise to 100 billion yen (US$752 million) next financial year, reversing an expected loss of 75 billion yen for the year ending this month, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper said.

The come-back stems mainly from a 140 billion yen cut in fixed expenses, including labor costs, the economic daily said, without citing sources.

Suffering a slump in information technology investment, Fujitsu plans to slash its 180,000-strong workforce by 22,000 for the current year to March while reducing its capital investment by 22 percent, it said. - AFP

AOL will take US$54 billion writeoff

NEW YORK: AOL Time Warner said Monday it will take a US$54 billion charge in the first quarter to reflect a decline in the value of its acquisition of Time Warner.

In its annual report, the company gave a specific value to the writeoff, previously forecast to be in the $40 to $60 billion range.

The move reflects a change in the accounting of goodwill -- or the difference in the value of its assets compared with the price paid.

The charge is expected to be the largest ever taken by a corporation in a single quarter, but it involves no cash outlay and will not affect the company's earnings. - AFP

Sinopec, ExxonMobil study China expansion

SINGAPORE: Sinopec and ExxonMobil are studying a US$150 million expansion of a refinery in Guangzhou, which will give the U.S. oil major a solid foothold on China's booming southeast coast, Chinese sources said on Tuesday.

The companies are looking to raise capacity at Guangzhou Petrochemical Corp by 25 percent to 10 million tons per year (tpy) by 2005 from the current 7.7 million tpy (158,200 bpd), the sources close to the plan said.

Sinopec and ExxonMobil are expected to equally finance the upgrade, estimated to cost 1.2-1.3 billion yuan ($145-$157 million), said a Beijing-based senior industry source. "Parties have recently started joint feasibility study, due to be completed around end of the third quarter," the official said. - Reuters

Shell to buy Pennzoil for $1.8b

HOUSTON: Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group said on Monday it will acquire Pennzoil-Quaker State Co., maker of the top two motor oil brands in the United States, for US$1.8 billion in cash.

Shell, the world's No. 3 oil company, said the deal, which has been approved by Pennzoil's board, will boost its role in the market for lubricants -- it includes the Jiffy Lube chain of more than 2,000 oil-change shops -- and strengthen its U.S. car care and oil products businesses.

London-based Shell's 60-percent owned U.S. affiliate Shell Oil Co. will pay $22.00 per share for Houston-based Pennzoil, or about a 42-percent premium over stock's closing price of $15.49 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares were halted after hours.

Shell put the total equity value of the deal at about $1.8 billion and said it will also assume Pennzoil's outstanding debt, which stood at $1.1 billion as of the end of last year. The transaction, subject to approval by Pennzoil's shareholders and review by regulatory agencies in the United States and other jurisdictions, is expected to close in the second half of 2002. - Reuters

Taiwan bank to sell T$66.3b NPLs

TAIPEI: State-owned Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Taiwan's second largest commercial bank, said on Tuesday it plans to sell T$66.3 billion (US$1.9 billion) in non-performing loans (NPLs) this year to improve its financial structure.

Of the total, T$5 billion was scheduled to be sold to Taiwan Asset Management Corp (Tamco), the island's first asset management corporation (AMC), which started operations in November 2001, a bank spokesman told Reuters.

"For the remaining T$61.3 billion, we plan to sell them through open bidding by the end of this year," he said by telephone.

The state bank's NPLs have been rising in recent years partly due to a worsening local economy and partly owing to state orders to absorb several credit cooperatives that had encountered financial problems. - Reutres