Services decline in Europe and US drives Fujitsu revenues down

Japanese vendor saw revenues reduced by 75bn yen due to currency fluctuations with the pound and dollar

Fujitsu's revenue fell annually in Q2 2016, attributed in part to a decline in infrastructure services in Europe and a decline in network products in the US.

For the three months to 30 September 2016, Fujitsu's operating profit rose 149 per cent year on year to 37.1bn yen (£300m), on revenue which over the same period fell 6.6 per cent to 1.1tn yen.

Globally, services revenue was down 7.6 per cent annually to 627.9bn yen, but the division's revenue in Japan actually increased by 1.7 per cent to 420.2bn yen. Services revenues fell 22.2 per cent to 207.6bn yen in territories outside Japan.

Analyst TechMarketView said in a statement: "The UK services business is currently undertaking a programme to invest in and streamline the business. This is much needed as no company operating in today's market can expect to thrive without being fighting fit. Nothing more has yet come of the rumours around the sale of the global PC business, but we still believe that would be a good move, bringing greater focus to the higher-value IT services it provides."

The vendor also announced today that it is exploring a "strategic co-operation in the realm of research, development, design and manufacturing of personal computers" with Lenovo, just a few weeks after it confirmed it was "considering various possibilities" for its PC business, including a possible sale to Lenovo.

Fujitsu will continue to sell its PC portfolio, and the two vendors are still in discussions about the details of the collaboration.

The announcement said: "The two companies aim to create a successful model that leverages Fujitsu's global sales, customer support, R&D and manufacturing capabilities together with Lenovo's operational excellence to improve competitiveness in the dynamic global PC market."

The collaboration comes just after the announcement that Fujitsu plans to cut up to 1,800 jobs in the UK as part of a "transformation programme" to "better support customers in the era of digital transformation".