Sumitomo Issues New Business Plan

A few days after announcing the closure of an ethylene cracker in Japan and a loss of about $435 million so far this year, Sumitomo Chemical unveiled a three-year plan for turning itself around. The company intends to cut its annual operating costs by almost $900 million through unspecified measures. It hopes to reduce its debt by almost half to less than $9 billion over the next three years. Sumitomo also envisions expanding its exposure to promising sectors including the life sciences, electronics, energy, and the environment. The company expects to generate a profit of almost $1 billion by 2015.