Japan

Toshiba again delayed announcing its annual financial results on Monday, as new accounting errors prevented the company from drawing a line under Japan’s worst corporate scandal in four years, the Irish Times reported. Toshiba, which was scheduled to post its earnings for the business year ended in March, said the newly discovered problems included incorrect impairment charges on fixed assets at several subsidiaries and improperly timed booking of loss provisions at a US subsidiary.

Japan’s consumer inflation ground to a halt for the first time in more than two years and household spending unexpectedly fell in July, increasing pressure on policy makers to offer fresh fiscal and monetary support to underpin a fragile recovery. The gloomy data, coupled with soft exports that were blamed on China’s slowdown, reinforces the dominant market view that any rebound in Japan’s growth after the contraction from April to June will be modest.

Since the collapse last year of Mt. Gox, the exchange that served as the largest hub for storing and trading the virtual currency Bitcoin, law enforcement officials and angry clients have been asking what happened to nearly half a billion dollars in Bitcoins that the company said had vanished from its computer systems.

Airbus said on Thursday it was studying two proposals to revive Skymark and would favour any plan that both gives the bankrupt Japanese airline a future and takes account of the planemaker's interests, Reuters reported. Alongside aircraft leasing firm Intrepid Aviation Ltd, Airbus is one of the biggest creditors to Skymark, which ran into financial trouble after embarking on an ambitious expansion that included buying A380 superjumbos.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to unveil a plan to balance Japan’s budget in five years, a move that underscores Tokyo’s resolve to improve its deficit-ridden finances even as it continues to pursue costly economic-stimulus programs, The Wall Street Journal reported. In a draft plan to be released early next week, Mr.

Aircraft leasing firm Intrepid Aviation Ltd, the biggest creditor of Skymark Airlines, is seeking another sponsor for the failed budget carrier instead of ANA Holdings, court documents showed. Intrepid's search is part of a restructuring plan for Skymark filed at a Tokyo court on Friday, the same day the budget carrier filed a rival proposal that hinged on ANA buying a 16.5 percent stake. Intrepid's filing, seen by Reuters on Monday, did not name any other potential sponsors and did not say why the company opposed ANA's sponsorship.

The Japanese government will miss out on Y201.8bn ($1.6bn) in Bank of Japan profits this year as the central bank piles up capital against future losses, the Financial Times reported. According to its annual accounts, the BoJ is keeping 25 per cent of last year’s profit as capital, instead of the legally required 5 per cent. Last year it withheld 20 per cent. The move highlights both the size of BoJ profits from its massive monetary easing and the anxiety it feels about losses when the time comes to raise interest rates.

Skymark Airlines Inc's biggest creditor, aircraft leasing company Intrepid Aviation Ltd , plans to try to block ANA Holdings Inc from taking a 16.5 percent stake in the failed Japanese discount carrier, two people said. The decision by Intrepid to try to stop ANA from becoming a sponsor for Skymark's revival from bankruptcy comes after ANA, Japan's biggest carrier, withdrew from an agreement with Intrepid to lease up to seven jetliners, said the people, who have direct knowledge of the talks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks weren't public.

Lixil, the Japanese bathroom fittings group, faces losses of at least Y41bn ($337m) after a China-based, German-listed subsidiary filed for insolvency and announced it was considering legal action against its former chairman and his son, the former deputy chairman, the Financial Times reported. The case could revive investor concerns about transparency at China-based companies with foreign listings following other problems in recent years, including the 2012 bankruptcy of Sino-Forest, the Canadian-listed Chinese forestry group.

Sharp Corporation of Japan said it had secured a $1.7 billion bailout from banks, its second major rescue in three years, after its smartphone display business came under intense pricing pressure from Asian rivals, the International New York Times reported. Mizuho Bank and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ will inject a combined 200 billion yen in a debt-for-equity swap, Sharp said in a statement, a move that will buy it time but is unlikely to allay worries about the long-term viability of its display business.