Toshiba Corp said it returned to profit in the first quarter as sales of automotive chips and hard drives bounced back from a pandemic-induced drop in demand.
Toshiba reported an operating profit of 14.5 billion yen ($132 million) for the April-June period, in line with estimates and reversing a previous-year loss of 12.6 billion yen, the fourth consecutive quarter in which revenue rose 21%.
Satoshi Tsunakawa, a longtime Toshiba executive who held both positions on an interim basis, told reporters he hoped an extraordinary general meeting would be held by the end of the year to appoint a new chairman.
An independent investigation in June concluded that Toshiba conspired with Japan’s powerful trade ministry to prevent investors from gaining influence at last year’s general meeting – an explosive finding that ended with the ouster of its board chairman.
Toshiba’s former CEO left the company in April amid controversy over a $20 billion takeover bid from CVC Capital Partners that the company rejected, to the anger of some shareholders. That in turn has prompted Toshiba to promise a strategic review.
Toshiba will unveil a new midterm business plan in October, as it continues to build new profit drivers following the sale of its valuable memory chip division and the bankruptcy of its U.S. nuclear business, both of which occurred in the wake of infamous accounting scandals.
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