Toshiba dives 20% after it flags loss

Bloomberg

Toshiba shares dived more than 20 percent on Wednesday in their second straight double-digit plunge, as the company said it may book a one-time loss of several billion dollars over its US nuclear business. The stock price dropped by 20.42 percent to 311.60 yen, the largest fall allowed for a single day, about 30 minutes after the opening bell, as the company failed to ease investor worries over the potential risk. It finished the session at that level.
The Tokyo-based conglomerate said Tuesday in a statement that costs linked to the acquisition last year by its US subsidiary of a nuclear service company would possibly amount to “several billion US dollars, resulting in a negative impact on Toshiba’s financial results”. The exact figure of the potential write-down is still being worked out, Toshiba president Satoshi Tsunakawa told reporters after the announcement, apologising for “causing concern”. The company statement suggested the figure would be released soon, citing an end-of-year deadline for settling the valuation of the nuclear deal.
The announcement came after Toshiba shares closed nearly 12 percent lower on Tuesday on media reports about the potential loss. After the market closed Wednesday, Standard & Poor’s cut two of Toshiba’s credit and debt ratings by one notch each in response to the company’s announcement. S&P also placed the ratings on watch, suggesting they could be downgraded further.
Analysts said uncertainty was fuelling investor anxiety. “Concerns have yet to be cleared away as they said they didn’t know the figure,” Yukihiko Shimada, senior analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities, said. SMBC Nikko credit analysts Yutaka Ban and Kentaro Harada said in a report that investors “can’t be optimistic about the situation” even though the total write-down may not end up as big as the 500 billion yen ($4.3 billion) reported by local media. Nomura Securities analyst Masaya Yamasaki said in a report issued late Tuesday that the expected loss “is negative for the company as its financial standing is fragile”.
Tsunakawa at the press conference answered in the affirmative when asked if Toshiba is considering boosting capital. Chief financial officer Masayoshi Hirata said that after the figure is confirmed the company will “explain and seek support” from financial institutions.