TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese conglomerate Toshiba yesterday said full-year net profit fell by more than a third due partly to weak sales in electronic devices and other one-off factors.
It also said a planned takeover bid process that is expected to take the company private will likely start in late July.
For the year that ended March, the engineering giant booked a JPY126.57 billion net profit, down 35 per cent on-year, on sales of JPY3.36 trillion, up 0.7 per cent.
Operating profit dropped 30.4 per cent to JPY110.55 billion, mainly because of a contraction of the hard disk drive market, and other one-off factors, Toshiba said. For the current financial year to March 2024, it forecasts a JPY110-billion operating profit, down 0.5-per-cent from the previous year, on sales of JPY3.2 trillion, down 4.8-per-cent.
It did not provide a forecast for full-year net profit. In 2018, Toshiba sold its prized chip unit Toshiba Memory to a group led by United States investor Bain Capital.
Toshiba retains a 40-per-cent stake in the chip business, which was renamed Kioxia.
In March, Toshiba approved a USD15-billion takeover bid by a consortium led by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners.
If the acquisition is successful, it will take the engineering giant private. The move follows years of turmoil for the company, which once symbolised Japan’s tech prowess but has more recently faced scandals, financial trouble and high-level resignations.
