The Goodwill Group Inc., a Tokyo-based staffing firm with holdings in the United States, lowered its earnings forecast for its fiscal year ending June 30 in the wake of an announcement that a Japanese government agency may temporarily suspend operations at the company's offices in Japan. In an announcement on Dec. 25, the company forecast revenue for the year of 570 billion yen (US$4.99 billion) compared with an earlier forecast of 650 billion yen. It also forecast no net income; the initial forecast was 12 billion yen.

Earlier, the company said operations at 89 Japanese offices could be suspended for four months, while the rest of its 737 offices could have operations suspended for two months. The company has until Jan. 8 to submit an explanation to the government agency before the sanctions are finalized. The sanctions arose following alleged violations of Japanese law over referrals of workers to port transportation services and double referrals.

Goodwill also announced Dec. 25 that it plans to consolidate its 737 offices in Japan into 400 offices.