Japan's Daiei Plans to Cut 1,400 Jobs

TOKYO - Daiei Inc, Japan's largest supermarket operator, said today it aims to cut 1,400 jobs in its parent company through voluntary retirement, Reuters reports. The retailer has been struggling with debt and sluggish consumer spending.

Last month, Daiei said it would reduce its group workforce by 5,000 jobs, including 1,000 parent jobs out of 11,286, by March 2005. It has said it aims to cut interest-bearing debt to less than one trillion yen ($7.50 billion) by March 2005 by closing 50 loss-making stores and slashing jobs. In August, the company's interest-bearing debt stood at 2.31 trillion yen, according to Reuters.

Daiei also said today it would sell an 82.17 percent stake in Daiei Olympic Sports Club Inc. to fitness club operator Konami Sports Corp for about 3.5 billion yen ($26.25 million). The fitness club unit has 63 outlets nationwide.
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