Kazuo Furukawa will succeed Etsuhiko Shoyama Hitachi Ltd. has named a new president and chief operating officer to take charge of the company from the beginning of its new financial year, it said Thursday.Kazuo Furukawa, who is currently an executive vice president of the company and also president and chief executive officer (CEO) of its information and telecommunications systems group, will rise to the top of Hitachi on April 1, 2006. He will replace Etsuhiko Shoyama, who has been president and CEO since June 2003. Shoyama will become chairman and CEO on the same day.One of Furukawa’s first jobs will be increasing profitability at the company, which makes products as diverse as semiconductors, rice cookers and nuclear power stations. For the April to September period this year, Hitachi suffered a loss of ¥10.9 billion (US$96 million), and it expects full-year net profit to be ¥20 billion, down 61 percent from the previous year. The company said it expects to lose money in the competitive flat-panel TV, hard-disk drive and LCD (liquid crystal display) panel businesses. Technology Industry