Tokyo - Fujifilm Holdings Corp on Thursday announced a planned transfer of 5,000 employees working abroad as it suffered profit declines in fiscal 2008 and expected a loss in the current fiscal year.

Fujifilm saw its net profit plunge 90 per cent during the year that ended March 31 to 10.52 billion yen (108.6 million dollars), while its operating profit tumbled 82 per cent to
37.29 billion yen. Sales were down 14.5 per cent to 2.43 trillion yen.

Tokyo - Fujitsu Ltd said Thursday that it fell into the red in the past fiscal year because of a drop in semiconductor sales and losses incurred in its hard-disk-drive division.

The Japanese electronics company suffered a net loss of 112.39 billion yen (1.16 billion dollars) in the year that ended March 31, a turnaround from a profit the year before of 48.1 billion yen.

Its operating profit plunged 66.5 per cent to 68.77 billion yen, and its sales dropped 12 per cent to 4.69 trillion yen, the firm said.

San Francisco - Test flights for the much-delayed Boeing Dreamliner are due to start in June and the first customers are on schedule to receive the plane in the first quarter of 2010, the US aviation company said Wednesday.

Test flights for the aircraft have been delayed for more than two years, but Boeing has now filed 60 per cent of the paperwork needed for certification of the 787, Mike Delaney, chief project engineer of the 787 programme, said at a press conference.

Taipei - China Mobile, China's largest cellphone company, signed a strategic alliance agreement with Taiwan's Far East Tone Wednesday, becoming the first Chinese firm to invest in Taiwan's telecommunications business.

The signing ceremony was in Hong Kong, while Far East Tone Chairman Douglas Hsu spoke to reporters in Taiwan via a video link.

Hsu said that China Mobile will pay 17 billion Taiwan dollars (524 million US) to buy 444 million shares of Far East, gaining 12 per cent stake and one board director's seat in Far East Tone.

New Delhi, Apr 29: India''s top mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, sees its current operating margin as sustainable, director Akhil Gupta said on Wednesday.

"I think anything around 40 per cent is pretty decent with this bond. But of course, if you do anything more in terms of converting opex into capex or vice-versa, this ratio can change," said Gupta.

Bharti, which announced its March quarter results earlier, recorded an operating margin of 40.7 per cent in the March quarter.

ABB, a leader in power and automation technologies, has secured substation orders worth Rs 425 crore from Powergrid, Country's largest power distributor, to boost capacity and help improve grid reliability.

The scope of contract includes design, supply, installation and commissioning of 765/400 kilovolt (kV) substations at Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Wardha (Maharashtra), Bilaspur and Seoni (both Madhya Pradesh), and of a 400/220 kV substation at Palakkad (Kerala).

The projects are expected to be completed by mid-2011.