TOKYO (Feb. 16, 2010) —Bridgestone Corp. expects to report a net profit for fiscal 2009, reversing earlier projections of a loss thanks to “significant expense reduction initiatives.”
Bridgestone was projecting a net loss of as much as $107 million just three months ago. Now it expects to be about $11 million in the black, or less than 0.1 percent of sales.
The expense reductions also should help the company boost operating income 25 percent over the November forecast to about $836 million, or 2.9 percent of sales, Bridgestone said.
Bridgestone did not elaborate on actions taken to reduce expenses.
The sales forecast is unchanged at about $27.7 billion, or down nearly 20 percent from fiscal 2008. By comparison, Bridgestone's fiscal 2008 net income was $100.6 million on sales of $31 billion.
Bridgestone will report its fiscal 2009 earnings on Feb. 19.