Toshiba Corp posted an annual loss and restated earnings for the previous six years as it tries to recover from an accounting scandal that led to the ouster of its president and two predecessors. The net loss was ¥37.8 billion (US$316 million) in the 12 months ended March, compared with revised net income of ¥60.2 billion a year earlier. The Tokyo-based company did not issue dividend or earnings forecasts for the current year.
Adjustments wiped out net income from businesses that span nuclear reactors, computer memory chips and laptop computers. The company has revamped its board, apologized to investors and appointed a special committee to try to win back trust and prevent further irregularities.
“The announced fiscal year loss is within the range of what investors have been expecting, so investors are buying back the shares,” Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co executive officer Mitsushige Akino said.
Photo: EPA
“But in the long run, it is unclear how Toshiba will change,” Akino said.
Toshiba shares rose 5.1 percent to ¥364.2 as of 12:33pm in Tokyo. The company is to hold an extraordinary general meeting on Sept. 30, it said.
Writedowns to net income from the years ending March 2009 to March last year, plus the first three quarters of the next year, totaled ¥155.2 billion, according to the statement. The biggest was a ¥64 billion reduction in profit for the year to March 2013 to ¥13.4 billion.
The results for the last fiscal year were posted months later than initially scheduled after Toshiba scrapped forecasts in May and repeatedly widened an investigation of accounting irregularities.
The company said last month it expected a net loss for the past year without providing a specific number.
The restatements follow a third-party report released on July 21 describing practices that led to overstatement of profits, linking them to former presidents Hisao Tanaka, Norio Sasaki and Atsutoshi Nishida.
The executives were linked to the irregularities because they pressured underlings to reach unrealistic performance targets, according to the third-party panel report. The corporate culture was such that employees felt they could not resist orders they perceived as including steps to make results appear better than they actually were.
Following the resignations of Tanaka, Sasaki and Nishida, Masashi Muromachi was named president. No charges have been filed against Toshiba or its executives.
The industrial group has said it is to sell some assets to raise money.
Toshiba, a pillar of Japan Inc, has built up holdings in more than 300 affiliates, partners and customers.
The company last month said it is selling its shares in Topcon Corp, a maker of measuring and medical equipment. That follows July’s sale of its stake in Finnish elevator maker Kone Oyj.
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