2nd LD Writethru: Toshiba's future uncertain following mounting financial losses

Toshiba Corp. on Tuesday submitted an unaudited financial report for the April-December period with an accompanying statement warning of its future survival.

"There are events and circumstances that may bring about significant questions about the idea of carrying on as a going concern," Toshiba said in a Japanese statement accompanying its unaudited figures.

Toshiba on Tuesday posted a group net loss of 532.51 billion yen (4.8 billion U.S. dollars) and a group operating loss of 576.28 billion yen, on sales of 3.85 trillion yen during the nine-months through December.

The net loss compares to previous estimates of 499 billion yen and 479.44 billion yen posted at the same time a year earlier.

The larger-than-expected losses follow Toshiba twice postponing the release of its financial figures since Feb. 14.

The multinational conglomerate's auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Aarata LLC did not endorse the April-December earnings owing to differing opinions regarding Toshiba's trouble-hit U.S. nuclear subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Co.

Accounting irregularities at Westinghouse Electric Co. according to informed sources were the reason Toshiba twice postponed the release of its earnings.

At the end of March Toshiba approved a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the United States by its embattled Westinghouse Electric unit.

Toshiba said last month it was facing a possible 712.5 billion yen writedown on its failing nuclear energy business and a related group net loss of more than 1 trillion yen.

The Japanese firm which employs 188,000 people globally has been under pressure to release its earnings and had it not filed its financial statement Tuesday ran the risk of being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Toshiba's shares were placed on a "securities on alert" watchlist by the Tokyo Stock Exchange in September 2015, following a previous accounting scandal, which had initially dented the company's reputation.

Between 2008 and 2014 the multinational conglomerate was involved in padding its profits by 152 billion yen, leading to its chief, and half of its board resigning.

The firm was subsequently fined an unprecedented 60 million U.S. dollars.

The filing Tuesday without the approval of an auditor has yet to be accepted by financial regulators or the Tokyo bourse and could still see the Tokyo-based firm delisted.

In an effort to raise desperately needed funds to cover losses from its U.S. nuclear business Toshiba earlier in the month spun-off its world famous NAND-type flash memory business.

In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis Toshiba has been struggling to secure new nuclear-related contracts.

Conversely, its prized chip operation booked an operating profit of 110 billion yen on sales of 845.60 billion yen in the fiscal year that ended March 2016.

This was at a time when the overall conglomerate logged a group operating loss of 708.74 billion yen.

Its chip business has attracted around 10 interested parties with the final buyer expected to be decided in July this year.

Toshiba is also expected to sell its domestic television business having already withdrawn from the international market. Endit