TOKYO, May 15 (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp said on Monday it expects a net profit of 50 billion yen ($440 million) in the current business year to next March, a turnaround from an estimated loss of 950 billion yen in the year just ended.

The estimate for this business year excludes earnings from its chip unit and its smart meter susbidiary Landis+Gyr - both of which it plans to sell to help dig itself out of a financial crisis.

In its unaudited earnings release, Toshiba said it expects to have a negative net worth of 540 billion yen at the end of March if it fails to raise funds from the sale of its prized chip unit soon.

($1 = 113.3500 yen) (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)