Toshiba, the Japanese maker of products from flash-memory chips to steam turbines, forecast a 2015 operating profit more than 50 per cent above its 2013 estimate as it shifts to focus on energy and semiconductors.

Operating profit may rise to 400 billion yen for the year ending March 2016 from an estimated 260 billion yen this fiscal year, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement yesterday. The company forecast 2015 sales of 7 trillion yen. President Hisao Tanaka plans to boost production of flash memory chips and speed up expansion abroad with its energy operations.

The company is reorganising its television business after the division lost about 100 billion yen in the past two years, hurt by competition from other makers including Samsung. - (Bloomberg)