Toshiba's sales tumble 13 per cent

Toshiba said loss was due to falling consumer demand for electronic goods.

Toshiba has announced losses of ¥343.6bn (£2.3bn) in the past year due to falling consumer demand for electronic goods.

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

Toshiba does not believe that the business environment is likely to imprive any time soon, and announced plans to raise ¥313.1bn 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 the yen's sharp appreciation," the firm said in a statement.

The grim outlook becomes all the more apparent when the results are compared to the previous year's when Toshiba unveiled a profit ¥127.4bn. The news, which also a 13 per cent revenue fall to ¥6.6 trillion, was the first loss Toshiba has reported in years.

Rival Samsung similarly reported its first loss when its 2008 financials were disclosed in January. Although the loss was less than Toshiba's, at $14.4m (£9.5m), it further signals the weak state of the chip market.

During Toshiba's fourth quarter, revenue slumped steeply to ¥1.67tn, a decline of 20 per cent. Its net loss for the quarter was ¥184bn.

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

However, 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 expects an improvement in its mobile phone business and hard disk drive sales.