Toshiba said it plans to report on Friday first-quarter financial results that are “close to” what were reported by the Nikkei business daily, which put its operating profit at about 20 billion yen ($196 million). The laptops-to-nuclear conglomerate added in a statement that the contents of the Nikkei report on Thursday were not something the company announced. In the year-earlier quarter, Toshiba posted an operating loss of 11 billion yen. An operating profit for April-June would mark the first profit in six quarters, but the figure reported by the Nikkei falls short of a Starmine SmartEstimate of a 33.5 billion yen profit. Shares in Toshiba were up 4% in early trade, outperforming a less than 1% rise in the benchmark Nikkei average. After a $1.3 billion accounting scandal revealed many underperforming operations previously masked by years of profit padding, Toshiba axed 14,000 jobs, scaled down the semiconductor business and sold its white goods and medical devices units. The massive restructuring turned the sprawling conglomerate into a leaner company focussing on chips, nuclear energy and social infrastructure. Toshiba is due to announce its quarterly results at 2 pm (0500 GMT). The Nikkei said the company was expected to keep its full-year net profit forecast of 100 billion yen, compared with a loss of 460 billion yen in the year that ended this March.
