TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp reported on Wednesday a 10-fold jump in first-quarter operating profit as it stepped up cost cuts across divisions, but the profit missed analyst estimates.
The Japanese conglomerate has been consolidating factories, cutting jobs, revamping the procurement method to compensate for the loss of the prized chip business, sold last year to plug a multi-billion-dollar balance sheet hole left by the collapse of its U.S. nuclear power unit.
Toshiba, however, is still struggling to grow profits in businesses that it sees as the next growth drivers, such as batteries, power management devices and medical equipment.
The company reported an operating profit of 7.8 billion yen (£60.44 million) for the April-June quarter, up from 730 million yen a year earlier.
The result compared with the 11.63 billion yen average of 3 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv.
Toshiba maintained its annual profit forecast at 140 billion yen, in line with the target the company set in its five-year plan.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Shounak Dasgupta)
