Kyoto, Oct. 1 (Jiji Press)–Michio Kaida, new president of scandal-hit major Japanese motor manufacturer Nidec Corp., pledged Thursday to maintain the company’s listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. At a press conference held at the company’s headquarters in the western city of Kyoto, Kaida said maintaining the listing is his “mission.” Audit company PwC Japan Group has withheld an opinion on Nidec’s securities and internal control reports for fiscal 2025, which ended in March this year. Kaida said his company aims to “resolve remaining issues by the end of October in an effort to obtain the audit firm’s opinion.” “We deeply apologize for another top management change, which came at a time when we are dealing with a series of irregularities” at the company, said Kaida, who took office after his predecessor, Mitsuya Kishida, resigned Tuesday. Kishida became Nidec president in 2024. The stock of Nidec has been designated as an issue on special alert by the TSE since October 2025. For the lifting of the designation, the company needs to submit an internal control-related report by the end of this month. A PwC Japan executive who also attended the press conference said that the audit company will continue talks with Nidec so that it can issue an opinion by the end of October. As a reason for withholding an opinion, PwC has noted that people who were involved in Nidec’s accounting fraud remain at the firm. On this, Nidec Senior Vice President Masayuki Minai said, “We are starting to act so that we can obtain PwC’s endorsement,” noting that the company is working to eliminate the influence of those involved in the wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Minai denied any correlations between Kishida and the auditor’s decision to withhold an opinion. Kaida stressed that Nidec will “implement structural reforms without exception,” after the company on Wednesday reported impairment losses totaling 632.1 billion yen for fiscal 2025. Nidec will redirect management resources from its automotive and home appliances operations, in which a large portion of the impairment losses occurred, to the energy and semiconductor sectors, where demand is growing on the back of the construction of many data centers, he said. The accounting fraud came to light in September 2025, followed by Nidec founder Shigenobu Nagamori’s resignation as a representative director in December the same year. On top of the accounting scandal, product quality fraud was revealed at the company in May this year. Also on Thursday, Nidec said it will sell Tokyo-based electronic parts subsidiary Nidec Components Corp. to U.S. investment firm Carlyle Group for 102.9 billion yen. At the press conference, Soichiro Sakuma, an outside board director of Nidec, explained the circumstances surrounding Kishida’s resignation as the company’s president. At its meeting Friday last week, the Nidec board unanimously decided to replace Kishida as it was confirmed that he has made statements or engaged in conduct that could not necessarily be regarded as appropriate over the huge impairment losses and financial reports, according to Sakuma. The board informed Kishida of its decision the same day. Kishida submitted a letter of resignation on Tuesday, and Kaida was picked as new president at an extraordinary board meeting the same day, Sakuma explained. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
