Toshiba shares tumble after sources say third earnings postponement likely

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Toshiba Corp tumbled on Monday after sources told Reuters that the troubled Japanese conglomerate would likely miss a third deadline to report its quarterly business results.

Toshiba shares plunged as much as 9.4 percent in early morning trade, before trimming the loss to about 4 percent, compared with a slight gain in the Nikkei index.

A third postponement of the October-December earnings, currently due on April 11, looks necessary because Toshiba's auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata LLC, has questions about results for the business year through March 2016, the sources said.

A Toshiba spokesman said on Monday that the possible postponement was not something the company had announced and that it was preparing to make the earnings announcement by April 11.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Stephen Coates)