Toshiba records big loss despite 'strong' UK

Troubled vendor records net loss of ¥37.8bn (£208m) for its year ending 31 March

Troubled Japanese giant Toshiba has reported a big loss for its last financial year, despite seeing a "strong performance" in the UK.

For its fiscal year ending 31 March, Toshiba recorded a net loss of ¥37.8bn (£208m), compared with ¥98bn in its fiscal 2013, on net sales of ¥6.66tr, which were up three per cent year on year.

The financial results come two months after Toshiba's chief executive Hisao Tanaka resigned following an accounting probe which found the vendor had overstated its profits over the past seven years by ¥151.8bn.

In the financial results, Toshiba apologised, in a statement, for the "inappropriate accounting treatment that has severely undermined the trust of shareholders, customers, employees and all other stakeholders."

In light of the accountancy scandal, Toshiba said today it is going to reduce its board of directors from 16 to 11 people, and ensure more than half of these board members will be outside directors.

Despite recording a loss for its last fiscal year, Toshiba said its results were buoyed by the UK and the eurozone.

"While the US economy lost some momentum in the second half of FY2014 (October-March), the UK witnessed a strong performance and the eurozone sustained a gradual recovery," a company statement said. "Despite a slowdown in China, the emerging economies as a whole saw a gradual recovery, reflecting growth in Southeast Asia and India."

The company also said its increase in revenue was boosted by higher sales in its energy and infrastructure, community solutions and electronic devices and components divisions.

Toshiba also reported its Q4 2014 results today, which saw a net loss of ¥145bn in the quarter, (compared with a net loss of ¥156.9bn in the same quarter in 2013), on net sales of ¥1.93tr which were down 17.7 per cent year on year.