Toshiba Corp said its profitability will improve in the next fiscal year as it scales back on products such as PCs and home appliances.
Operating profit will be ¥120 billion (US$1.1 billion) and revenue ¥4.9 trillion in fiscal 2016, the electronics maker said yesterday, in a presentation titled “A road map to a new Toshiba.”
Analysts were projecting, on average, a profit of ¥145.5 billion on sales of ¥5.77 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Toshiba, which makes everything from computers to nuclear power equipment, is seeking to revive profits by narrowing the scope of its business lines. An accounting scandal has left the Japanese conglomerate in tatters, facing record losses, job cuts and potential spinoffs.
The company is selling its medical unit to Canon Inc, home-appliance business to China’s Midea Group Co (美的集團) and is considering letting go of its PC operations.
“The trust we’ve lost won’t be regained overnight,” president Masashi Muromachi said at a briefing at Toshiba’s Tokyo headquarters. “We must transform into a company that can deliver consistent growth.”
For the current fiscal year, which ends this month, Toshiba kept its operating loss forecast intact, at ¥430 billion, on revenue of ¥6.2 trillion.
Still, the company is retesting the value of its nuclear power operations. That business is at the center of an investigation by the US over allegations that it hid US$1.3 billion in losses, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Toshiba now expects the goodwill on its Westinghouse Electric Co to be ¥351 billion, from an originally anticipated ¥385 billion.
Toshiba, which said it is cooperating with US authorities on inquiries, in November last year disclosed that the Westinghouse unit booked writedowns on new construction projects and automation services in fiscal 2012 and 2013.
The value of Westinghouse wasn’t impaired by the writedowns and the accounting was accurate, spokeswoman Yu Takase told Bloomberg News at the time of the disclosure.
Toshiba is also cutting back on hiring, and said it is on track to eliminate 1,300 jobs from its computer business.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective