Toshiba's sales tumble 13 percent

Japan's Toshiba has lost Y343.6bn in the last year due to falling consumer demand for electronic goods.

The loss was made public when the chip giant reported its financial results for its fourth quarter and year 2008, ending 31 March 2009.

The company said it did not believe the business environment would get any better and announced plans to raise Y313.1bn from shareholders to deal with the loss.

"This result was strongly influenced by the shrinkage of the overall market caused by the fast-spreading global recession, steeper than expected declines in semiconductor prices, and by yen's sharp appreciation," said a Toshiba statement.

The grim outlook for the firm becomes all the more apparent when the results are compared to the previous year's performance when Toshiba unveiled a profit Y127.4bn.

The Friday news, which also saw Toshiba report a 13 percent revenue fall to Y6.6 trillion, was the first loss Toshiba has reported in years.

Fierce Toshiba rival Samsung similarly reported its first loss when its 2008 financials were disclosed in January.

Although the loss was less than Toshiba's, at US$14.4m, it further signals the weak state of the chip market.

During Toshiba's fourth quarter, revenue slumped particularly deep, dropping to Y1.67 trillion - a decline of 20 per cent. Its net loss for the quarter was Y184bn.

Toshiba said its semiconductor business had taken a big hit and this division would probably remain in the red for the rest of 2009.

But Toshiba's Social Infrastructure division, which delivers power and communication management systems to roads and buildings, maintained a good profit in 2008, and the firm said it expects an improvement in its mobile phone business and hard disk drive sales.