Toshiba barely avoids delisting on Tokyo Stock Exchange

(AFP/APP) – Struggling Japanese conglomerate Toshiba said Tuesday it had bounced back into the black after a disastrous year and will avoid a humiliating delisting from the Tokyo stock exchange.

The firm said it had booked a record net profit of 804.0 billion yen ($7.3 billion), compared with a loss of 965.7 billion yen a year earlier.

The bottom line was helped by one-off revenue from tax cuts linked to sale of its nuclear units.

However, operating profits dropped 21.9 percent to 64.1 billion yen while sales declined 2.4 percent to 3.95 trillion yen.

Toshiba had been on the ropes after the disastrous acquisition of US nuclear energy firm Westinghouse, which racked up billions of dollars in losses before being placed under bankruptcy protection.

Those losses came to light as the group was still reeling from revelations that top executives had pressured underlings to cover up weak results for years after the 2008 global financial meltdown.

In order to survive and avoid delisting, the cash-strapped group has decided on the multibillion-dollar sale of its prized chip business to a consortium led by Bain Capital.

For the current year to March 2019, Toshiba expects a net profit of 1.07 trillion yen, up 33.1 percent from the previous year, on sales of 3.6 trillion yen, down 8.8 percent, it said.