Toshiba said its first half to September net loss was 32.18 billion yen, widening from the loss of 26.4 billion yen a year earlier.
The increased losses came mainly due to a sharp deterioration in the PC business, featuring stiffer competition from Hewlett Packard.
Toshiba, a maker of notebook PCs and semiconductor chips, also attributed the result to rises in corporate tax and the weaker-than-expected performance of some affiliates.
Sales in the first half fell to 2.61 trillion yen from 2.63 trillion yen, while the company incurred an operating loss of 12 billion yen, reversing a profit of 2.9 billion yen a year earlier. It registered current loss of 17.6 billion yen, compared with a loss of 43.8 billion yen a year earlier.
The latest first half result compares with the previous forecast announced in September of a net loss of 25 billion yen and current loss of 20 billion yen on revenue of 2.6 trillion yen.
After the larger-than-expected loss in the first half, Toshiba lowered its year to March 2004 net profit forecast to 25 billion yen from the previous estimate of a 35 billion yen profit.
But the company left unchanged its current profit forecast of 90 billion yen, operating profit estimate of 140 billion yen and revenue projection of 5.65 trillion yen.