Toshiba Back To Profitability As Demand For Car Chips Rises

Toshiba Corp. said on Thursday it swung back to profit in the first quarter, as sales of automotive chips and hard disk drives recover from a pandemic-driven slump in demand, Makiko Yamazaki reported for Reuters over the weekend.

Photo Insert: Demand for automotive chips and hard disk drives may be the keys for Toshiba to make a successful turnaround.

The scandal-hit Japanese conglomerate also said it has been working on the selection of candidates for a permanent CEO and board chairman.

Satoshi Tsunakawa, a veteran Toshiba executive who has taken on both positions in an interim capacity, told reporters he hopes an extraordinary shareholders meeting to appoint a new board chairman will be held by the end of this year.

Toshiba posted an operating profit of 14.5 billion yen ($132 million) for April-June, in line with estimates and reversing a year-earlier loss of 12.6 billion yen. It was its fourth consecutive quarter of operating profit.

Sales jumped 21%. Its estimate of 170 billion yen in operating profit for the full year was unchanged.

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