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Ricoh to log $1.6 billion net loss

Mar 24 (NHK) - Japanese precision equipment firm Ricoh says it will report a record loss for the fiscal year ending in March. This is due to a slump in its business in the United States.

The company, known for its photo copying machines and printers, expects a group net loss of 170 billion yen, or about 1.6 billion dollars. This will be Ricoh's first net loss for a full year in 6 years and its largest ever.

The company bought a US firm in 2008 in order to sell products and provide maintenance. But business has been sluggish due to the trend of going paperless. Ricoh will write down the value of this business and post a loss of around 1.3 billion dollars.

In addition, it will also book a loss of about 380 million dollars related to an information technology services firm in the US that Ricoh acquired in 2014.

Ricoh CEO Yoshinori Yamashita told a news conference that the pace of digitalization was faster than the company expected.

He said Ricoh will review its strategy of expanding sales in the North American market and put more focus on non-print related services, such as making digital data from documents.

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