Toshiba CEO Explains Profit-Boosting Plans to Shareholders

June 27, 2018

Chiba- Toshiba Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Nobuaki Kurumatani explained the company's plans to improve its earnings when he met with shareholders at an annual meeting on Wednesday.

During the meeting, which was held at the Makuhari Messe convention center in the city of Chiba, east of Tokyo, Kurumatani said the major Japanese electronics and machinery maker will carry out procurement reforms and radical expense reductions.

He also said that the company aims to generate a continual stream of profit from information analysis services, as well as sales of devices and parts, on a medium- to long-term basis.

Toshiba has faced excess debt from massive losses in its U.S. nuclear plant operations and has narrowly escaped being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

It sold 600 billion yen's worth of new shares to investment funds and others in December last year.

The company also sold Toshiba Memory Corp., its prized flash memory unit, for some 2 trillion yen on June 1.

While Toshiba's financial condition has improved considerably, its earning power has been impaired sharply by the sale of its flash memory business, which was the company's big moneymaker.

A 71-year-old shareholder said that he plans to pay more attention to which operations will help rebuild the company now that the primary source of revenue has gone.

Some shareholders said that Toshiba's plans lacked anything new, while others called on Kurumatani and others to be more specific about the plans.

All proposals, including the appointments of Kurumatani and other board members, were approved during the meeting, which lasted about two hours. Jiji Press