Toshiba rumours swirl amid financial uncertainty

Toshiba's future is shrouded in uncertainty after reports claimed it will miss a third deadline to publish its quarterly results.

The struggling vendor has twice failed to release earnings for the period of October to December last year, with sources now telling Reuters they expect it to now miss next week's 11 April deadline.

The speculation comes after Toshiba shareholders last week approved a proposal to sell off its NAND flash memory business to cover around $9bn in costs at its US nuclear company Westinghouse, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Japanese publication Yomirui Shimbun reported over the weekend that Apple, Amazon and Google are all considering bids for the semiconductor business, with Reuters claiming there are as many as 10 potential suitors, citing a source with "knowledge of the planned sale".

Meanwhile reports last week claimed that Dell shareholder Silver Lake partners had made an $18bn bid for the business alongside US chipmaker Broadcom, which sits in its portfolio.

The uncertainty saw Toshiba's stock price tumble as much as 9.4 per cent on Monday, with a Toshiba spokesperson saying the company remains in preparation for the 11 April results announcement.

Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute, said that the outcome of the reporting saga could have huge implications for Toshiba's presence on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

"They've already delayed it twice, so delaying it a third time is a negative.

"What TSE is investigating now is if Toshiba's compliance improved after their accounting scandal a few years ago and if it turns out that inappropriate pressure at Westinghouse resulted in this earnings delay, it could indirectly impact TSE's decision on delisting."

Reports of Toshiba considering offloading its flash memory chip business surfaced in February, with sources claiming the vendor wanted to keep at least one third of ownership.

Western Digital, Micron Technology, Hon Hai Precision Industry co and SK Hynix were reported as potential suitors at the time.

 

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