Toshiba chairman Shigenori Shiga is to resign from his position following news that the company has logged losses to the tune of $6.3 billion in its nuclear business.
The company has projected a 712.5 billion yen ($6.3 billion) loss for its nuclear business related to the acquisition of CB&I Stone & Webster by its U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse.
Toshiba President Satoshi Tsunakawa, bowing deeply at a news conference to apologise for ‘troubling investors and stakeholders’, said that the company will not be taking on new projects to construct nuclear plants and are looking for partners to buy a stake in Westinghouse.
In a shocking omission, Tsunakawa said that Toshiba’s acquisition of Westinghouse, which signaled the company’s move into the nuclear sector in 2006, was a misstep and a contributing factor to its current problems.
The news conference followed the Japanese chip giant delaying its official financial results by a month, blaming the delay on auditing problems. Toshiba stock plummeted 8% following the delay and associated confusion.
Following close of trading, the company did release unaudited numbers, stating that these projections could change ‘by a wide margin.’ The company expects a group net loss of 500 billion yen ($4.4 billion) for April-December of last year, including the 712.5 billion yen hit from its nuclear business.
The company has also forecast a group net loss of 390 billion yen ($3.43 billion) for the full year through March 31, instead of the 145 billion yen profit it had anticipated earlier.
Toshiba is still reeling from the well-publicised accounting scandal which saw the company overstate financial results for a number of years. In a scandal which saw CEO Hisao Tanaka and vice-chairman Norio Sasaki resign, it was revealed that the company had invented profit by a total of 151.8bn yen, (£780 million). It is now more than likely, following the write down of its nuclear business that Toshiba will have to sell its lucrative computer chip business.
