神户制钢承认产品数据造假

日本第三大钢铁公司神户制钢承认，曾伪造数据使其产品符合客户规格，曝出了又一桩冲击日本公司的丑闻，之后，投资者计划在周二对该公司展开紧急救助。

神户制钢在周日表示，2016年9月至2017年8月期间出货的铝制品和铜制品，约4%使用了虚假标签，以达到客户要求的规格。

公司称，这种不当行为涉及数十名员工，可能追溯到10年前。

在该钢材与铝制品生产商承认造假之前，日产汽车、三菱汽车和高田株式会社等多家日本公司也陷入了类似的丑闻。东芝目前仍深陷虚报利润丑闻的余波中无法自拔。

杰富瑞集团分析师Thanh Ha Pham在一份报告中表示：“此事对公司财务状况的影响目前尚不明确，但考虑到更换/召回要求，影响可能非常严重。如何恰当解决这种状况，是避免长期信誉受损的关键。”

他表示，日本最大的铝制品制造商UACJ可能是此次丑闻的受益者。在格林威治时间03:54左右，UACJ的股价上涨了3%。

而神户制钢的股价将会暴跌，因为在午盘盘初的交易中，卖盘与买盘的比例达到近20比1。东京证券交易所在周一因国家节日关闭交易。周五，该公司股价上涨了2%，达到1,368日元。

对神户制钢客户的影响尚不明确

神户制钢在周末表示，伪造数据的产品被发往了约200家公司。

受影响的产品包括铝铸件、锻件和平轧铝材等。

据媒体报道和该公司的声明显示，使用神户制钢承认造假的产品的公司包括丰田汽车公司、中日本铁路、三菱重工业、马自达汽车公司和斯巴鲁株式会社等。

日本交通部已要求汽车厂商对从神户制钢采购的部件进行安全检查。

一名神户制钢的发言人告诉路透社，该公司正在配合客户检查潜在问题。他表示：“据我们所知，目前尚未有客户的产品受到影响。”

丰田汽车称神户制钢此次曝光的情况是一个“严重问题”，并且与神户制钢的其他多数客户一样，丰田汽车也表示正在检查这些部件被用于哪些地方，以及使用这些部件的产品会受到哪些影响。

三菱重工称，其三菱支线客机和火箭均使用了神户制钢的产品，包括在周二将一枚导航卫星送入轨道的H-2A火箭。三菱重工称，这些部件不存在技术问题。

神户制钢表示，数据造假对营收的影响仍未可知。日本工业部金属部门的一名官员将在格林威治时间06:30左右召开一次新闻发布会。

在截至2017年3月的财年，神户制钢铝铜部门的销售额年比下降了6.4%，降至3,233亿日元（28.7亿美元），经常性利润下滑20.5%，减至120亿日元。

神户制钢总部位于日本西部的神户，随着铝被越来越多的汽车厂商采用，该公司一直在扩张其铝制品业务。铝的质量比钢材更轻，符合更严格的环境规定。

Myojo资产管理公司（的CEO菊池诚表示，最近日本企业接连曝出的丑闻，将进一步伤害投资者信心。他表示：“过去几年，外国投资者基于对安倍经济学的期望买进了日本股票，但这‘三支箭’中的增长策略并没有发挥作用。虽然他们说正在加强公司治理，但却在制造方面出现了问题。未来，这将对日本股市造成沉重打击。”（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

Investors looked set to bail out of Kobe Steel Ltd kobe-steel on Tuesday, after Japan‘s third-biggest steelmaker revealed it had fabricated data to show its products met customer specifications in the latest scandal to rock corporate Japan.

Kobe Steel said on Sunday that about 4% of the aluminum and copper products that it shipped from September 2016 to August 2017 were falsely labeled as meeting the specifications requested by customers.

The misconduct involved dozens of staff and possibly stretched back 10 years, the company said.

The admission from the steel and aluminum maker follows similar scandals at Japanese companies including Nissan Motor , Mitsubishi Motors and Takata Corp. Toshiba Corp is still battling the fallout of a scandal involving reporting inflated profits.

“The impact on financials is unclear, but could be substantial depending on request(s) for replacement/recall,” Jefferies analyst Thanh Ha Pham said in a note. “Handling the situation is key to avoid long-term reputation damage.”

UACJ, Japan‘s biggest aluminum maker, may be a beneficiary of the scandal, he said. UACJ shares were up 3% at around 0354 GMT.

Shares of Kobe, on the other hand, looked set to plunge as sell orders outpaced bids by a factor of roughly 20 to one in early afternoon trade. The Tokyo bourse was closed for a national holiday on Monday. On Friday, the shares rose 2% to 1,368 yen.

IMPACT ON KOBE CUSTOMERS UNCLEAR

Products with falsified data were shipped to about 200 companies, the company said at the weekend.

Aluminum castings, forgings and flat-rolled items, along with copper strips and tubes were among the products affected, the company said in a statement.

Companies including Toyota Motor Corp, Central Japan Railway, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mazda Motor Corp and Subaru Corp were among those using products covered by the admission from Kobe Steel, according to media reports and statements.

Japan‘s transport ministry has called for automakers to make safety checks of components from Kobe.

A Kobe spokesman told Reuters the firm is working with customers to check for any issues. “To our knowledge it has not affected any customer’s products at this stage,” he said.

Toyota called the revelations a “grave issue”, and as with most of the other Kobe Steel customers, said it was making checks on where the components were used and what effect they have on products using them.

Mitsubishi Heavy said Kobe Steel products were used on its Mitsubishi Regional Jet and rockets, including a H-2A rocket launched on Tuesday to put a navigation satellite into orbit. There were no technical problems with the components, MHI said.

Kobe Steel has said the impact of the data falsification on its earnings is still unknown. An official from the metals division of Japan‘s industry ministry is holding a press conference at around 0630 GMT.

Sales of Kobe Steel’s aluminum and copper division fell 6.4% year on year to 323.3 billion yen ($2.87 billion) in the financial year ending March 2017, with recurring profit falling 20.5% to 12 billion yen.

The company, based in Kobe in western Japan, has been expanding its aluminum as carmakers increasingly use the material, which is lighter than steel, to meet tighter environmental rules.

Makoto Kikuchi, CEO of Myojo Asset Management, said the raft of recent corporate scandals that has rocked Japan will further damage investor confidence. “Looking back over several years, foreign investors have bought Japanese stocks on expectations for Abenomics, but among the “three arrows,” the growth strategy isn’t functioning,” he said. “While they say they’re strengthening corporate governance, improprieties focused on manufacturing have been popping up. Going forward, this will be a body blow to Japanese shares.”