Olympus beat a deadline to avoid automatic delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange by filing financial results and restating five years of earnings, delayed after the camera maker admitted to covering up losses.
The TSE removed the company from its watchlist for automatic ejection from the world's second-largest bourse.It filed five years' worth of corrected statements, plus overdue first-half results, just hours before a deadline set by the TSE.
The most recent restatement, for end-June 2011, showed an 84 billion yen (€826 million) reduction in net assets, and Olympus added that as of end-September, its net assets were just 46 billion yen, down from a restated 225 billion yen in March 2007.
Olympus's credit rating was downgraded two steps to BBB-, the lowest investment grade, by Rating and Investment Information Inc.
Ousted CEO Michael Woodford said today he would recapitalise the camera and medical equipment maker within a few months if he returned and would favour investment by private equity or a rights issue to raise cash.
He also told Reuters in an interview that if he went back to Olympus he would try to avoid taking it into any strategic alliance with another company.
Mr Woodford, who was fired by Olympus two months ago and immediately blew the whistle on questionable acquisition deals at the centre of its accounting problems, is waging a campaign to replace its directors.
He said he would pursue that campaign until any emergency general meeting of shareholders, but if it failed he would likely give up his battle to change the company.
Olympus restated some of its accounts today, revealing that a 13-year accounting fraud had put a dent in its balance sheet.
Mr Woodford arrived in Japan yesterday evening and will leave on Saturday.
Agencies
