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The announcement on Friday of the widened probe
into its book-keeping, the company's second accounting scandal
in less than two years, came after the Tokyo market was closed.
Toshiba's Frankfurt-listed shares tumbled 15 percent.
Toshiba said in a statement an internal probe launched a month
ago has so far discovered cases in which building costs for
infrastructure projects were under-reported and losses from
construction work were inadequately booked.
The company said it had decided more investigation was needed,
and would set up a third-party committee to ensure impartiality.
A spokeswoman declined to comment on which infrastructure
projects were related to the probe, while confirming there was
more than one. Toshiba's infrastructure operations include
nuclear power plants as well as industrial and railway projects.
As a result of the extended probe, Toshiba said it would not be
able to announce financial results for the latest fiscal year,
ended March, until June or later. The firm would normally have
released earnings around this week.
It apologised to shareholders for being unable to pay an annual
dividend, as it was missing its book-closing date. It paid an
annual dividend of 8 yen last year.
In Tokyo, a stock exchange official said companies are normally
required to disclose performance details within three months of
a quarter ending, but can request extensions from the
government.
A Toshiba spokeswoman said it had not yet made such a request,
as it could not yet estimate how much more time it needed.
The latest scandal follows Toshiba's October 2013 announcement
that it found its medical subsidiary, Toshiba Medical
information Systems, had overstated results for several years.
For the 2013 business year, Toshiba's energy and infrastructure
unit reported sales of 1.8 trillion yen, up 11 pct year-on-year,
and operating income of 32.3 billion yen, down 62 percent.
(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando and Chris Gallagher; Editing by
Kenneth Maxwell and Elaine Hardcastle)
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