Toshiba has said it has returned to profit for the year to March, but has warned that it could slide back into the red thanks to the earthquake and tsunami.
Toshiba reported a net profit of $1.7 billion dollars for the financial year, reversing a bottom line loss last year. The company's operating profit nearly doubled up 1.7 percent from the previous year, it said.
Profits and sales gains were mainly due to strong demand for television sets and its memory chips, which are used in smartphones and tablet computers. But it said "the outlook still remains uncertain" due to the impact of the disasters that paralysed the economy in northeastern Japan and crippled a nuclear power plant in Fukushima.
Toshiba was forced to close a chip-making factory in Iwate Prefecture in Japan's quake-hit northeast. It has since cranked up production slowly. Supply chains have been broken and power shortages have hit production across key industries, with the impact of the disasters threatening to throw Japan's export-driven economy into a temporary recession, analysts say.
But doom is forecast
Nick Farell
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