Telecommunications giant Fujitsu, which has operations in Solihull, has reported a 40 per cent fall in fourth quarter profits caused by restructuring in its microchip operations.
But it said it expects IT outsourcing to help it bounce back and double annual profits this year.
The Japanese firm caused anger last month at its Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe site in Solihull when it announced it was axing 140 jobs by switching operations to the US.
Fujitsu workers are being balloted by the Communication Workers Union on whether to strike over the plans to transfer the manufacture of printed circuit boards from the UK to Fujitsu Network Communications in Texas.
The announcement came just weeks after the Solihull plant had been praised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown when he toured the site.
In contrast, the group's information technology branch Fujitsu Services is delivering a jobs boost to Northern Ireland where it is recruiting an additional 150 staff, its third investment drive in the province in the past 18 months, bringing its total workforce in there to more than 900.
Fujitsu is establishing an Applications Services Centre of Excellence with £2.2 million aid from Invest NI, the local business development agency.
Despite last quarter's losses, the Japanese group predicts that it will rebound and is confident its IT outsourcing operations will help to double annual profits this year.
The group predicts its net profit will rise to £493.6 million, a figure which beats analysts' estimates.
Fujitsu, which competes with IBM and EDS in IT services, aims to grow its consulting business overseas and also expects gains in IT outsourcing and its consulting business to outweigh the effects of a strong yen.
Fujitsu CFO Masamichi Ogura said: "At the moment, we see no signs that companies are cutting back on IT spending, which they see as necessary to cut costs or meet compliance or risk-management requirements."
