TOKYO -- Toshiba group stocks have taken a further hit from the financial woes of the parent as speculation mounts that it may unload shareholdings to survive.
The Japanese industrial conglomerate revealed Tuesday that its liabilities exceeded assets at the end of 2016. Toshiba ended Thursday down 11.8% from Tuesday's close, against a 0.6% rise by the Nikkei Stock Average.
Toshiba Tec closed Thursday at 595 yen -- down 6.2% from Tuesday in the sharpest drop among listed group companies. Toshiba owns 50% of the maker of point-of-sale systems, printers and other devices.
Chipmaking equipment manufacturer NuFlare Technology, also 50%-owned by Toshiba, took a roughly 3% fall. Toshiba Plant Systems & Services slid by 2.4%, Shibaura Mechatronics by 2.8% and Nishishiba Electric by 1.1%. Toshiba holds stakes of 49.7%, 36.5% and 54.5% in the units.
Toshiba President Satoshi Tsunakawa denied Tuesday any plans to unload shareholdings in group members. But "a list of stocks that Toshiba will likely sell is being passed around among investors," an official at a Japanese asset management company said.
Many of the listed Toshiba units are performing well. Toshiba Tec expects to return to the black this fiscal year, for example.
So "there is a possibility that investors will feel secure enough to pick up" such stocks once concerns subside about the parent unloading holdings, said Mitsushige Akino of Ichiyoshi Asset Management.
(Nikkei)
