Operating profit fell to 206.65 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in the year ended March 31, the electronics company said on Tuesday. That was a whisker below the consensus estimate of 208.7 billion yen in a survey of 22 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Toshiba said demand for its television sets and personal computers has remained weak, although the appetite for its flash memory chips from Apple Inc has increased.

For this fiscal year, Toshiba forecast operating profit may jump 45 percent to 300 billion yen, boosted by demand for Apple's iPhones and iPads.

The profit outlook was above the mean estimate of 281.9 billion yen in a poll of 22 analysts.

Shares in Toshiba, which competes with Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor Inc in semiconductors and with GE and Areva in nuclear reactors, are up about 1 percent so far this year, compared with a rise of around 8 percent in the benchmark Nikkei. ($1 = 79.9200 Japanese yen)

(Reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Alex Richardson)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency