Toshiba Corp, Japan’s top chipmaker, yesterday said its net loss for the last fiscal year would be bigger than forecast because of a large write-off and warned that more contract jobs would be cut.
The company will cut 3,900 contract workers in Japan by March of next year, Toshiba spokeswoman Hiroko Mochida said. That is in addition to the 4,500 Japanese contract workers it previously said would be cut by last month.
Toshiba now estimates the net loss for the year to last month at ¥350 billion (US$3.5 billion), sharply up from ¥280 billion forecast earlier and its biggest loss ever.
It would also mark Toshiba’s first annual net loss in seven years.
The wider net loss was because of a write-off of ¥85 billion in deferred tax assets.
But the electronics maker said its operating loss would be a smaller-than-expected ¥250 billion, thanks to the stabilization of prices of flash memory chips used for music players and digital cameras.
Hit by a plunge in demand amid the global economic slump, Toshiba said in January it would cut 4,500 contract workers and delay or cancel investments in new chip plants.
Last month, Toshiba picked a new president, Norio Sasaki, 59, who will take the helm in June following approval at a meeting of shareholders.
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