Sony Corp and Toshiba Corp fell in Tokyo trading after media reports the companies would record operating losses this fiscal year because of worsening electronics and chip operations.
Sony tumbled 8.9 percent to close at ¥2,000 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, its steepest decline since Nov. 6.
Toshiba fell 8.6 percent to ¥385, the biggest drop since Oct. 24. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 4.8 percent.
PHOTO: EPA
Falling sales of electronics including televisions in North America and Europe could push Sony’s operating loss to about ¥100 billion (US$1.1 billion) in the 12 months ending on March 31, the Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday, without citing anyone.
The deficit, Sony’s first from operations in 14 years, compares with a ¥200 billion profit the company forecast in October.
“The numbers look about right when one considers the severity of the sales slump since October” at Sony, said Kazuharu Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd in Tokyo.
Miura has a “neutral” rating on Sony.
Sony said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange that the forecast was not based on any announcement by the company and declined further comment.
Falling sales and the yen’s gains against the US dollar forced Sony last month to announce plans to cut 16,000 positions and curb investment in its mainstay electronics business by 30 percent from an original plan.
Sony president Ryoji Chubachi in an interview on Jan. 6 described the environment for year-end sales as “severe” and said the company could miss its 16 million unit sales target for liquid-crystal-display TVs for the year ending on March 31.
Toshiba will post its first operating loss in seven years in the 12 months to March 31 because of worsening chip operations, public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the situation.
The deficit will be about ¥200 billion, Nikkei English News reported, without saying where it obtained the information.
“We are evaluating the impact of significant changes in our business environment, and will quickly announce any change to our earnings forecasts, if needed,” Toshiba said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Toshiba in October forecast operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, will decline 37 percent to ¥150 billion in the year ending on March 31.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
RSS