Toshiba increases annual loss forecast to $6.0 bn amid accounting scandal

Toshiba said Thursday it has expanded its full-year loss forecast to an eye-watering $6.0 billion, as one of Japan's best-known firms accounts for an embarrassing profit-padding scandal. Toshiba -- a vast conglomerate that makes everything from rice cookers to nuclear plants -- also pointed to a global economic slowdown, saying it was taking a big bite out of results across the company, including memory chip and computer sales. Its new loss forecast of 710 billion yen ($6.0 billion) for the fiscal year to March -- well up from an earlier 550 billion yen ($4.6 billion) net loss -- came as Toshiba said it lost 479.4 billion yen in the nine months to December, reversing a profit from a year earlier. The disappointing figures come after Toshiba announced last month it was inflating a damages claim against a group of former executives by a whopping tenfold in the wake of its accounting scandal. The company said it was now seeking around $27 million from five former top managers including three presidents for their role in the fraud. Japan's market watchdog last month slapped the firm with a record $60 million fine over the affair, which saw the company inflate profits by about $1.2 billion since the 2008 global financial crisis. A company-hired panel found top executives had pressured underlings systematically to inflate profit figures to hide poor results. Toshiba's business was dented by the global downturn, while the 2011 Fukushima disaster killed off demand for atomic power at home in a big blow to the firm's key nuclear division.