Toshiba shares take a dive

Shares in Toshiba dived roughly 12 percent on Tuesday after media reports said the company was likely to record a huge special loss related to a US subsidiary's acquisition of a nuclear power service firm.

Toshiba's stock traded 11.62 percent lower at the close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, paring an earlier drop of as much as 16.3 percent.

The company was expected to report a 100-billion-yen ($850-million, 813-million-euro) one-time loss for the fiscal year ending March 2017, the business daily "Nikkei" reported. It said the loss was related to a valuation dispute over Westinghouse Electric's purchase from Chicago Bridge & Iron of a US nuclear service company.

Coming to terms with a scandal

Toshiba said Westinghouse and seller Chicago Bridge & Iron had turned to an independent accountant to resolve the issue.

Once a proud pillar of corporate Japan, Toshiba has been besieged by a variety of problems, most notably a profit-padding scandal in which executives for years systematically pushed subordinates to cover up weak financial results.

In an intensive overhaul, the firm has been shedding businesses and announced the sale of its medical devices unit to camera and office equipment maker Canon.

A year ago, Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission said Toshiba should be slapped with a record 7.37-billion-yen fine over its profit-padding scheme that hammered its reputation. Japan's National Pension Fund, the world's biggest, said in June it was suing Toshiba over the scandal that slashed the value of its stock in the company.

hg/jd (AFP, AP)