TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Toshiba shares tumbled in early trading Tuesday after news reports that the troubled industrial giant would again delay announcing its financial results.
The stock lost 6.1 percent to 201.8 yen in the first few minutes before rebounding slightly to 204.8 yen, still down 4.69 percent from the previous day.
Toshiba, reeling from huge losses at its United States nuclear power unit, was to issue its April-December financial results on Tuesday, one month later than originally scheduled.
But Japanese media on Tuesday reported the group would push the announcement back again.
The delay stems from an investigation into the US subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric, the Nikkei business daily said.
The delay would “allow time for American and Japanese auditing firms to investigate reports of faulty internal controls at Westinghouse,” the leading business daily said, without citing sources.
Toshiba president Satoshi Tsunakawa will hold a press conference on Tuesday, explaining the reasons for the repeated delay and future strategy to turn the group around, Jiji Press and other media said.
A company spokesperson said he could not comment on the news reports.
On February 14, Toshiba only issued a grim preliminary earnings forecast, which prompted its chairman to resign as it hinted at a fresh accounting scandal.
Toshiba warned it was on track to report a net loss of 390 billion yen ($3.4 billion) in the current fiscal year to March, as it faced a huge writedown topping 700 billion yen at Westinghouse.
A whistleblower had complained that one or more Westinghouse executives exerted “inappropriate pressure” on the firm’s accounting, Toshiba has said.
The revelation comes less than two years after Toshiba — one of Japan’s best-known firms which employs about 188,000 people globally — was hammered by an embarrassing profit-padding scandal.
The Nikkei said Toshiba was expected to file a request with financial authorities for a deadline extension of a month or so.
Though the regional financial bureau intends to grant the request, it has expressed reservations over the length of the extension, the daily quoted an unnamed source as saying.
If the application is rejected, Toshiba will need to submit an earnings statement within eight business days, which would be on March 27, or face delisting.
