Hit by a sharp drop in profits for the fiscal year that ended yesterday, Hitachi Ltd is cutting the pay of 35 executives and suspending rises for about 9,000 managers, both for six months; the company took similar measures in 1975 to deal with effects of a global oil crisis and in 1986 after a slump when a rise in the yen made Japanese products more expensive abroad; the rank and file are due to get 4.7% rises today and managers would have been awarded the same rise; salaries for Hitachi’s chairman, president and six vice-presidents will be cut by 15% and those for 27 other executives will fall by 10%; the company reckons that its operating profit fell 42% to $910m.
