Officials ranked section chiefs or higher at Fujitsu and its subsidiaries will face three-to-five percent wage cuts for the three months to March, the spokeswoman said.

"We are reaching a crucial moment for achieving the earnings targets for the current year as our income is concentrated in the (January-March) fourth quarter," she said.

The pay cuts is "meant to say 'Let's work hard by keeping (our) minds on the job," she said.

A bulk of Fujitsu's earnings come from large corporate clients and government agencies, which tend to place orders in the last quarter of the fiscal year, she said. The fiscal year ends on March 31 in Japan.

Fujitsu incurred massive losses in the previous two years and is eager to return to the black in the current year.

In the first half to September, Fujitsu reported a net loss of 58.56 billion yen (537 million dollars) compared with a loss of 147.4 billion yen a year earlier as restructuring charges shrank.

Fujitsu's recurring loss widened slightly to 67.74 billion yen from 65.4 billion yen because of higher costs for retirement payments, while group sales dipped to 2.14 trillion yen in April-September from 2.15 trillion yen.

The company expects a net profit at 30 billion yen and recurring profit of 60 billion yen for the full-year to March 2004.

Corporate investment in information technology, the main income source for Fujitsu, is still slow while consumer electronics firms are enjoying robust sales of digital home appliances, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun economic daily said.

SPACE.WIRE