OREANDA-NEWS. Sumitomo Chemical Co. said that it anticipates a consolidated net loss of 50 billion yen for the current fiscal year ending March 31, partly due to the booking of an extraordinary loss related to the planned closure of an ethylene plant.

An earlier projection called for a net profit of 10 billion yen. The firm, which posted a net profit of 5.5 billion yen last year, is set to bleed red ink for the first time in four years.

The company now eyes sales of 1.97 trillion yen, short of the earlier forecast by 50 billion yen, and operating profit of 50 billion yen, which is 15 billion yen lower than the earlier projection. It also gave a dividend outlook for the first time, saying that it will not make a year-end payout.

The company's basic chemicals business is seen booking an operating loss of 7 billion yen, because market conditions worsened for caprolactam, which is used to make nylon. Its petrochemicals business will likely log a 4.5 billion yen operating loss due to weak sales of synthetic resins used in autoparts and other products.

For the April-December period, Sumitomo Chemical's sales dipped 1% on the year to 1.42 trillion yen and its net loss worsened from 11.3 billion yen a year earlier to 40.6 billion yen.