Nov 09 (Japan Times) - Toshiba Corp. on Thursday announced its five-year business reform plan to revamp its operations, with thousands of global job cuts, a withdrawal from its nuclear plant construction business in Britain and a sell-off of a U.S. liquefied natural gas operation on the agenda.
The technology conglomerate plans to cut about 7,000 jobs globally over the next five years, Toshiba Chairman and CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani said at a news conference in Tokyo.
The planned restructuring comes as Toshiba reported financial results for the April-September period earlier in the day. It posted ¥1.08 trillion ($9.5 billion) in net profit, a sharp turnaround from a loss of just under ¥49.8 billion a year earlier, as it completed the sale of its chip subsidiary.
But even with the ¥1 trillion net profit in the latest term, Toshiba needs a fundamental rethink regarding its organizational structure and its business operations in order to stay afloat, according to industry analysts.
Its group operating profit tumbled 80.7 percent to ¥6.98 trillion on sales of ¥1.78 trillion, down 5.1 percent.
For the current fiscal year ending March 31, Toshiba cut its profit estimate, citing various restructuring-related costs including a ¥93 billion loss expected from selling its U.S. natural gas business, projecting a net profit of ¥920 billion against the previously estimated ¥1.07 trillion.
