Toshiba net profit rises on chip business sale

TOKYO: Struggling Japanese engineering firm Toshiba yesterday reported improved full-year net profit thanks to the sale of its chip business, but said operating profit was sharply down.

In the year ended March, Toshiba’s net profit jumped 26.0 per cent to 1.01 trillion yen (RM37.5 billion), chiefly because of “profit from completion of the sale of the Memory business”, it said.

Toshiba “achieved a healthier financial condition by closing the sale of the memory-chip business, advancing structural reforms that included finalising the sale of the PC business and deciding to withdraw from a nuclear power construction project in the UK,” said the company.

But the firm said its operating profit dropped 58.9 per cent to 35.4 billion yen, partly due to restructuring costs, on sales of 3.69 trillion yen, down 6.4 per cent.

For the current year to March 2020, it forecast a jump of 295 per cent in operating profit to 140 billion yen, after the completion of restructuring and other projects, on sales of 3.4 trillion yen.

It did not provide net profit forecast, saying it did not have sufficient information on the chip business.

The company used to sell everything from rice cookers to nuclear plants and has long been a household name.

But a series of scandals and business losses in recent years have forced the company to withdraw from many operations, such as appliances and personal computers that gave it brand recognition.

To stay afloat, the group sold its lucrative chip business for US$21 billion to K.K. Pangea, controlled by a consortium led by United States investor Bain Capital.