Japan Post projects annual loss due to Toll writedown

The Japanese postal, banking and insurance conglomerate now expects to post a net loss of 40 billion yen (U.S. $362.4 million) for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2016, after taking a 400.3 billion yen writedown on Australian logistics arm Toll Holdings.    Japan Post Holdings Co. expects to post a net loss of 40 billion yen (U.S. $362.4 million) for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2016, after taking a 400.3 billion yen writedown on Australian logistics arm Toll Holdings Ltd., the company said in a translated statement.
   The Japanese postal, banking and insurance conglomerate acquired Toll for $6.5 billion Australian (U.S. $5.1 billion) back in May 2015 in an effort to expand its international freight forwarding, contract logistics, express delivery, intermodal rail, and trucking services.
   The state-run firm had initially forecast a net profit of 320 billion yen for the year, which still would have been a 25 percent decrease from the previous fiscal year.
   In the coming year, Japan Post plans to cut more than 1,700 jobs at Toll, but the company will remain a “core unit,” President Masatsugu Nagato said at a press conference, according to a report from Reuters.
   “The price we paid for Toll was high,” Nagato said. “The writedown is intended to wipe the slate clean.”