TOKYO (Standard & Poor's CreditWire) Feb. 10, 2000--Standard & Poor's today assigned its triple-'B'-plus rating to Toshiba Corp.'s Y20 billion 0.8% bond series 36 due Feb. 28, 2003. The rating reflects Toshiba's high degree of business diversity, as well as its strengths in information and communication systems, particularly portable PCs. The rating also incorporates concerns that adverse conditions in domestic and overseas markets will impede the company's progress in improving its financial performance. Toshiba expects its total operating profit to recover to Y80 billion in fiscal 1999 (ending March 2000) from Y30.5 billion one year earlier. The company has recently undertaken wide-ranging restructuring measures, particularly in its home electric appliance and semiconductor businesses, and has also benefited from an upturn
