Japanese high-tech giant Toshiba Corp said yesterday that it had lost about US$630 million in the six months to last month because of a strong yen and a weak economy.
Toshiba estimated its first-half net loss at ¥58 billion (US$630 million), based on preliminary results, compared with a year-earlier deficit of ¥38.5 billion. In May it had warned it would sink ¥80 billion into the red for the period.
The group, which owns US nuclear plant maker Westinghouse, expects a first-half operating profit of ¥2 billion, against an earlier prediction for a loss of ¥30 billion.
It lowered its revenue forecast to ¥2.96 trillion from ¥3.15 trillion because of a strong yen and the fallout from the global economic downturn, which offset the positive impact of cost cuts.
Toshiba said it was leaving its forecasts for the full year to next March unchanged as “the outlook for the global economy in the second half of fiscal 2009 and beyond remains highly opaque,” it said.
Toshiba incurred its biggest ever loss of ¥343.6 billion in the previous financial year and expects to remain mired in the red this year because of weak demand for computer chips.
The company has forecast an annual net loss of ¥50 billion for the current year on revenue of ¥6.8 trillion. It aims to return to the black at the operating level with a profit of ¥100 billion.
Toshiba is to announce its full interim results on Friday.
Meanwhile, Canon Inc said yesterday that net profit dropped 55.8 percent in its financial third quarter from a year earlier, to ¥36.73 billion.
Canon maintained its earlier forecast for a net profit of ¥110 billion for the whole of this year.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique