Toshiba International reports 128 percent profit increase for FY2017

Toshiba International Corporation has reported an after-tax profit of AU$740,000 for the 12 months ending March 31, 2017, up 128 percent from a loss of AU$2.7 million recorded in the previous corresponding period.

Toshiba International, the Japanese conglomerate's Oceanic subsidiary, also saw an increase of 15 percent in revenue from AU$87 million in 2016 to AU$100 million in 2017.

Net cash flows from operating activities increased from AU$268,700 in 2016 to AU$7.5 million in 2017; net cash flows from investing activities went up from minus AU$3.4 million to minus AU$312,400; and net cash flows from financing activities dropped from AU$3.5 million to minus $5 million.

As of March 31, 2017, cash and cash equivalents stood at AU$4.9 million, 82 percent higher than AU$2.7 million recorded in the previous year.

According to its annual financial report, Toshiba International relies on funding from Toshiba Asia Pacific for continued operations, owing AU$12 million as at reporting date. Immediate parent company Toshiba Infrastructure Systems and Solutions Corporation will also continue providing financial support to the subsidiary.

However, there is no certainty at this stage whether Toshiba International will be able to continue to operate, thanks to its dependency on its parent company for financial support.

"Although the ultimate parent company is examining the details of the aforementioned restructuring plan at the present time, substantial doubt about the ultimate parent company's ability to continue as a going concern existed as of the date of filing its consolidated financial statements," it states in Toshiba International's 2017 financial report. "The consolidated financial statements of the ultimate parent company were prepared on a going concern basis and disclose the existence of a material uncertainty on the company's ability to continue as a going concern."

While Toshiba International saw improved financial performance, its ultimate parent company experienced a significant net loss of 965.7 billion yen for the year ending March 31, 2017.

The parent company intends to restructure to remedy its financial position, which was negatively impacted by rising costs at two of its Westinghouse nuclear projects in the US. Toshiba's Westinghouse subsidiary had been forced to file for bankruptcy protection in March this year, resulting in a $6.3 billion write-down for Toshiba, wiping out shareholder equity and dragging the company to a full-year loss for the second year in a row.

In February this year, Toshiba chairman Shigenori Shiga had accepted responsibility for the company's financial woes and resigned.

In September, to cover some of the losses incurred by the write-down, Toshiba said it would be selling its memory chip business for 2 trillion yen to a consortium led by Bain Capital that includes Seagate and is backed by the Japanese government.

As part of the sale of Toshiba Memory, which is expected to be complete by March 2018, the company said it would be investing 350.5 billion yen into the memory chip unit, maintaining some ownership over it.

The company had originally named Bain as its preferred bidder back in June, although the sale had been slowed down after joint venture partner Western Digital had struggled to submit a competing bid alongside KKR after its original bid was rejected.

Toshiba then said it was planning to sue Western Digital for 120 billion yen, claiming the latter had interfered in the sale of the memory chip business.

Western Digital had "continually interfered with the bid process" and "exaggerated" the power it had in relation to a potential sale, Toshiba claimed, and also made moves to prevent Western Digital employees in its Yokkaichi plant from accessing information pertaining to their partnership.

Toshiba recently reported that it expects to post a net loss of 110 billion yen ($970 million) this financial year following the sale of its memory chip business. The loss will come instead of its previously forecast net profit of 230 billion yen due to taxes incurred during the sale of the chip business.

More than a year ago, as part of another major restructuring effort, Toshiba sold off its PC business and let go thousands of employees.

PREVIOUS AND RELATED COVERAGE

Toshiba to sell memory business to Bain-led group for 2 trillion yen

The Japanese conglomerate will also be investing 350.5 billion yen into the memory business it is offloading to a Japanese government-backed consortium.

Bain, Apple group takes step towards buying Toshiba memory chip business

A consortium lead by Bain Capital, and reported to include Apple, has taken a step forward in its bid to buy Toshiba's memory chip unit.

Toshiba Australia rebounds to post AU$22.3m profit for FY2017

Toshiba Australia has reported after-tax profit of AU$22.3 million for the full year ended March 31, 2017, turning around the AU$23.1 million loss reported in the previous year.

Toshiba forecasts $1 billion loss: Report

Toshiba has announced a forecast net loss of $970 million due to the tax impact of selling its memory chip business, which was itself sold to make up for losses incurred from its nuclear energy business.