Shigenori Shiga quit on a chaotic day that began when Toshiba missed its own deadline for releasing its quarterly trading update.
Toshiba had delayed issuing its results, but then said it was set to report a net loss of 390 billion yen (£2.75 billion) in the year to March 2017. A huge $6.3 billion (£5.05 billion) writedown in its US nuclear business — partly due to overruns — was blamed for the loss.
The losses could hit plans for a £10 billion power plant at Moorside in Cumbria, with Toshiba expected to announce it is scaling back its nuclear business outside Japan.
It comes at an uncertain time for UK energy with French giant EDF — which will operate the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset — last week seeing an explosion at a site in northern France.
Kevin Coyne, energy officer at union Unite, said: “Toshiba’s announcement today that there will be yet another month’s delay on providing clarity over its future involvement in the Moorside project piles further agony upon this Cumbrian community.”
Toshiba is attempting to recover after it emerged in 2015 that profits had been overstated for seven years, prompting its boss to step down.
The delay on a full update comes as it investigates the amount its Westinghouse subsidiary paid for US construction and nuclear plant specialist CB&I Stone & Webster in 2015.
Whistleblowers have flagged concerns that senior management at Westinghouse exerted “inappropriate pressure” to advance the acquisition process, Toshiba said.
Toshiba apologised, but shareholders were unsympathetic and shares dropped as much as nine per cent.
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