Tokyo - Japan's vehicle exports in fiscal 2008 that ended March 31 marked the first decline in seven years amid the global economic downturn, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Thursday.

Car exports fell 17.2 per cent during the year to around 5.6 million units, marking the second-largest fall since 1973, the group said.

In March alone, exports plunged 64.3 per cent to 228,201 units, which was the steepest drop since 1972.

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.

Tokyo - Japanese electronics company Toshiba Corp on Thursday announced its US unit Westinghouse Electric Co would acquire a 52-per-cent stake in Nuclear Fuel Industries (NFI) to increase competitiveness in bidding for construction of nuclear power plants.

Westinghouse plans to buy a 26-per-cent stake each from Furukawa Electric Co and Sumitomo Electric Industries, which together own Nuclear Fuel Industries, for about
10 billion yen (103 million dollars) in May, Toshiba said.

Tokyo - Japan's industrial output in March marked the first growth in six months, thanks to increased production in the high-tech and machinery sectors, the government said Thursday.

The March output rose 1.6 per cent in seasonally-adjusted terms, following a 9.4-per-cent drop in February and a record 10.2-per-cent fall in January, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report.