Hitachi, the vast Japanese conglomerate buoyed by an improved
fiscal Q2 2010 report after several quarters of massive losses, said
this week that it wants to break out its storage division into its own
entity and set up an initial public offering.
The Japan-based multinational, ranked in the world's top 10 IT
companies by revenue in 2009, on Nov. 4 reported a group profit of
71.99 billion yen ($893 million) in the period, its fiscal second
quarter.
That compared with a net loss of 50.56 billion yen in the year earlier
quarter. Operating profit rose more than fivefold to 129.57 billion yen
from 25.84 billion yen, while revenue rose 5 percent to 2.35 trillion
yen from 2.232 trillion yen.
A main part of the resurgence of the company is due to its IT division,
which makes servers, storage arrays, electronics components, automotive
systems and chip-making equipment. Its storage group was among the most
profitable.
In a separate announcement, Hitachi said that it is now preparing to
list the shares of its U.S.-based hard disk-drive unit, Hitachi Global
Storage Technologies, on either the New York Stock Exchange or the
Nasdaq Stock Market.
However, the company has yet to decide when it will stage the initial public offering.
Hitachi said it would use the funds acquired through the IPO for research and development and other strategic investments.
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