Toshiba: one year of work wiped out by a mi’kmaq nuclear – Boursorama

Seal costs have not been properly evaluated on the construction of reactors in the United States the nuclear business to Toshiba in ruin a year of effort to erase a disastrous scandal accounting ( AFP/Archives / TORU YAMANAKA )

Seal costs have not been properly evaluated on the construction of reactors in the United States the nuclear business to Toshiba in ruin a year of effort to erase a disastrous scandal accounting ( AFP/Archives / TORU YAMANAKA )

Monday morning, a spokesman for Toshiba cancels suddenly an interview with the boss provided on the same day, without giving the slightest reason.

The next day, everyone understands. The group announces what is for him the worst news of the year: the risk of massive losses, quantified in billions of dollars, related to its nuclear activity in the United States.

in fact, if Toshiba has built the facilities for the production of electricity among its pillars of activity, to the side of the flash memories in particular, the direction has never ceased to wonder about the fate of the party of nuclear power.

a year ago, the previous acting president and CEO, Masashi Muromachi, said to the press “and think of a partnership in the field of nuclear energy in Japan”, sector a rough ride since the accident in Fukushima in march 2011.

The disaster has put a dent in the strategy of Toshiba in the archipelago, where he could not expect orders for new units in the short term.

- 45 new reactors expected -

so far, the group remained optimistic for the stranger, where he is double, under its own brand name, and with Westinghouse, a u.s. company that it has redeemed in several times, up to up to more than 80% of the capital.

Satoshi Tsunakawa, CEO of Toshiba, at a conference dde press in Tokyo, on 27 December 2016 ( AFP / Kazuhiro NOGI )

The current boss, Satoshi Tsunakawa, met in a small committee in June, indicated that the hope for the group “build 45 nuclear reactors in the next 15 years to come (including eight already ordered), because of the need to reduce CO2 emissions and the energy needs of emerging countries.”

Toshiba has been good to have drawn an attractive profile for Westinghouse, he was never able to find a buyer for the minority stake it wanted to sell.

And in the past year, the group has left its wholly put the hand on the CB&I Stone & Webster (S&W) to take complete control of nuclear projects in the United States. From the start, Westinghouse was expected impairments, but these were valued at only $ 870 million dollars.

In question, the costs of construction of the four units in Georgia and South Carolina, projects awarded in 2008 to Westinghouse but which CB&I Stone & Wester (S&W) was also part of a consortium. Then, Westinghouse has entrusted to you in January last a part of the work to a subcontractor, the company Fluor Corporation.

- Restructuring inevitable ? -

Las, as explained in a note the brokerage firm SMBC Nikko, later, as a result of changes due to security measures, more stringent requirements since the Fukushima accident, “Fluor has served on the Westinghouse an increase in the costs of construction of these nuclear reactors. Westinghouse has reported these items to Toshiba at the beginning of December”.

even Before having the evidence of Fluor, Westinghouse was already in open conflict with Chicago Bridge & Iron, the seller of S&W, who he accuses of having minimized the actual expenses of these projects. The case was brought to court by Chicago Bridge & Iron who pleads his good faith.

Toshiba was left dangling in November of the annual results much better than expected ( AFP/Archives / Behrouz MEHRI )

This confusion is a new blow, in the Stock market and in the eyes of the public in the least ruin in three days all the efforts made by Toshiba for a year to forget a resounding scandal accounting irregularities revealed in mid-2015. He had even left dangling in the November annual results much better than expected.

“The group will not escape a restructuring of its nuclear business”, contrasted sharply Thursday, a critical article in the Nikkei.

The patron, whose optimistic tone has disappeared, has also hinted himself on Tuesday during a press conference that could be a review of the strategic place awarded today at the nuclear power: “at the present time, we have not yet made a decision, but in the future it is a possibility.”

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