Olympus surges more than 25 percent in heavy trade

Olympus surges more than 25 percent in heavy trade

Stock Market Predictions

TOKYO (Global Markets) - Shares of Olympus Corp (7733.T) soared more than 25 percent on Friday, on track for their fourth day of gains, as its ousted chief executive prepares to confront the men who sacked him last month after he blew the whistle on an accounting scandal.

Michael Woodford, still an Olympus director despite being fired as CEO, is attending the firm's scheduled board meeting on Friday in Tokyo, his first return to the boardroom since it unanimously dumped him on October 14.

Olympus was up 18.3 percent at 1,205 yen, after earlier rising as high as 1,276 yen. The shares have pared losses but are still down more than 50 percent from the day the scandal broke.

Big stockholders, a major governance advocacy group and Woodford have all called for the Olympus not to be delisted. Olympus has also said it will meet a December 14 deadline for filing its financial statements for the six-months to September.

(Reporting by Lisa Twaronite; Editing by Joseph Radford)

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Olympus shares untraded at open, overwhelmed by sell orders

Olympus shares untraded at open, overwhelmed by sell orders

Stock Market Predictions

TOKYO (Global Markets) - Shares of Olympus Corp (7733.T) were untraded with a glut of sell orders on Friday, after the Tokyo stock exchange placed the stock on its supervisory post and warned it could be delisted if it fails to report earnings by December 14.

Its shares were notionally quoted at 468 yen, down 3.3 percent from its Thursday close of 484 yen.

On Thursday, its shares were overwhelmed by sell orders and remained untraded, ending down 17 percent by their daily trading limit.

Olympus will remain a component of the Nikkei average .N225 for the time being, the Nikkei publisher said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Lisa Twaronite; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

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Olympus tells lenders cash crunch looms: report

Olympus tells lenders cash crunch looms: report

Stock Market Predictions

TOKYO (Global Markets) - Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp, whose balance sheet took a massive hit after it admitted to a long-running accounting cover-up, told lenders its cash and deposits could run out in 2015, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Senior officials from the company met lenders on Friday, telling them they would come up with a new business plan in early May that could include equity tie-ups to bolster its balance sheet.

The company's main lender, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, agreed at the meeting to continue its support for the company, a source told Global Markets.

Assuming no new long-term borrowing, the company said cash and deposits would fall to 183.7 billion yen($2.36 billion) at the end of March 2013 and 94.2 billion yen a year after that, the Nikkei business said. Reserves could run out completely in 2015, the paper said.

Olympus's profits on its medical equipment business are hampered by losses on a struggling camera unit.

The company withdrew its full-year earnings forecast on Wednesday, but at Friday's meeting offered an internal forecast for a 7 percent year-on-year decline in sales to 790 billion yen and a 5.6 percent gain in operating profit to 35.6 billion yen.

($1=77.7 yen)

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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