Olympus to post higher-than-expected $412m annual loss
updated 11:30 am EST, Mon February 13, 2012
Olympus looking for partner, will post high loss
When its fiscal year ends in March, Japanese camera maker Olympus is expected to post a 32 billion yen net loss (about $412 million), BusinessWeek reported on Monday. This is worse than analysts expected and largely due to writing off equipment in the Thailand factory floods that affected camera and hard drive makers alike. Company president Shuichi Takayama said Olympus may want to find a partner in order to boost capital.
The partnership may come from Fujifilm, which has possibly proposed a partnership, though Sony is also considering investing in Olympus, according to the industry. Samsung has also been rumored to partner with the ailing company.
Analysts from Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank Group predicted Olympus would face a smaller, 25.5 billion-yen average loss for the year.
Olympus will hold a special shareholder meeting on April 20, where investors will vote on new management.
The company was hurt by a long-running accounting scandal that was made public late last year and nearly had the company taken out of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
