Toshiba in the eye of the storm (again)

Toshiba has not even recovered from the infamous accounting scandal from the spring of 2015, or it risks losing billions again. This time the Japanese company may need to write off two billion dollars on its nuclear activities.

Stock exchange in free fall

Subsidiary Westinghouse Electric, which currently is constructing two nuclear plants in the United States, is in financial trouble because of fines. Higher bills and delays have cost the company dearly, but that also has its effects on its parent company, Toshiba. Earlier this year, the technology company already had to write two billion dollars on its nuclear activities, although the full size of the cost will only be revealed in February.

Investors were not too pleased with the news: after a huge accounting scandal (the fraud reached 1.2 billion euro) cut the share’s value in half last year, its stock was just getting back on track, up 70 % compared to last year. Right now however, the share price has crashed again, down 42 % and with no end in sight for the slide. 

It is not clear how things should proceed for Toshiba: undoubtedly, it will need to find fresh capital and the board already hinted at a sale of its nuclear division, while there are rumours on the stock market that Toshiba will sell (at least a part of) its chip division. To be continued…