TOKYO (Dow Jones)--The president of Hitachi Ltd. (6501.TO) said Tuesday he is "very concerned" about possible further delays in the planned sale of its hard disk drive business to Western Digital Corp. (WDC) beyond March, as the U.S. company has yet to gain approval from various international regulators.

"Authorities are continuing to examine the deal, and it's not clear what China will say," Hitachi President Hiroaki Nakanishi told reporters at company headquarters in Tokyo.

The concerns over further delays in the deal come on top of other uncertainties for Hitachi's outlook from the yen's strength and Europe's continuing fiscal problems.

"There are many uncertain factors," Nakanishi said, noting that Europe's problems affect not only local demand but also investments by European companies in Asia and elsewhere. The possibility of a slowdown in China's growth is also a concern.

The Japanese electronics maker said in March it had agreed to sell its hard disk drive business to Western Digital for $4.3 billion and planned to complete the deal by the end of this year. But earlier this month Hitachi said it expected the sale to be finalized by March 2012.

A delay beyond March would have a significant impact on Hitachi's cash flow forecasts for the current fiscal year, which currently factor in the expected proceeds of the sale, Nakanishi said.

Nakanishi didn't say how likely such delays might be.

Apart from concerns about the Western Digital deal, Hitachi, like many other Japanese technology firms, has been struggling to cope with the strong yen and weakening European demand.

For the second half of this fiscal year through March, Hitachi's earnings forecasts are based on the assumption the dollar will average Y75 and the euro Y105.

"A yen stronger than those levels would be troubling for us," said Nakanishi.

The yen's strength against the dollar has a bigger impact on Hitachi than its strength against the euro, and the company has been trying to increase purchases in dollars to offset the effect, he said.

Europe's economic situation is hurting demand for electronic parts in the region, while there are also concerns about governments becoming more cautious about spending on public infrastructure projects, Nakanishi said.

Still, Hitachi's high-speed railway project in the U.K. has so far been unaffected by Europe's economic conditions, Nakanishi said. Talks on the project's financial terms have continued since the U.K. government said in March it planned to proceed with a Hitachi consortium proposal.

Hitachi's nuclear plant business has been facing difficulties in Japan since the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster triggered by the March 11 natural disaster.

But Nakanishi said overseas demand for Japan's nuclear plant technology remains solid.

In July, Hitachi was selected as a preferred bidder for a nuclear power plant project in Lithuania. Nakanishi said the company expects to reach a concession agreement in mid-February and sign a final agreement next summer.

Hitachi, one of Japan's biggest companies, had Y9.316 trillion in revenue in the last fiscal year ended in March. It has been restructuring by distancing itself from volatile businesses such as electronic devices, focusing more on technology services and infrastructure projects that target corporate and government clients rather than consumers.

Nakanishi said that the restructuring won't finish with the sale of the hard disk drive business, and that Hitachi will continue to review its business portfolio. "The environment is always changing, so we have to continue to adapt," he said.

-By Juro Osawa, Dow Jones Newswires; 813 6269 2794; juro.osawa@dowjones.com

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