
Japan's Sharp to sell Kameyama LCD plant to Hon Hai
Sharp said Monday that it will sell its small and midsize liquid crystal display panel plant in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, to its Taiwanese parent, Hon Hai Precision Industry.
The Kameyama No. 2 plant will be transferred to Hon Hai by August 2026.
Sharp aims to focus its business resources on competitive fields by downsizing the LCD panel business, which has been operating in the red.
Even after the transfer, sales of products from the plant ordered by current clients will continue, Sharp President Masahiro Okitsu told an online press conference.
Sharp will continue producing highly profitable automotive LCD panels at its Kameyama No. 1 plant.
In addition, Sharp plans to move its headquarters to the city of Osaka from the city of Sakai, both in Osaka Prefecture.
Also on Monday, the company announced a consolidated net profit of ¥36 billion in fiscal 2024, which ended in March this year, against the previous year's loss of ¥149.9 billion. It secured its first profit in three years thanks to positive effects of restructuring measures and profits from the sale of some assets.
Due to its sluggish business performance, Sharp halted the operations of its television LCD panel factory in Sakai in August last year and sold part of the land and buildings to SoftBank.
In the latest year, Sharp's overall sales declined 7.0% from the previous year to ¥2.16 trillion, while it swung to an operating profit of ¥27.3 billion from the previous year's loss of ¥20.3 billion.
The company expects to post sales of ¥1.85 trillion for fiscal 2025, down 14.4%, and net profit of ¥10 billion, down 72.3%.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


NHK
8 hours ago
- NHK
Sales of brand-name rice take a hit at Japanese supermarkets
Efforts by the Japanese government to arrest climbing rice prices with releases of grains from national stockpiles have come as a welcome relief for consumers. But not everyone is happy. With the latest release, a 5-kilogram bag of the government rice retails for about 2,000 yen, or 14 dollars. That compares with about 5,000 yen for branded alternatives of rice, which are famous for having specific qualities based on variety and region. One supermarket in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, only carries the more expensive, branded rice. It says sales slumped by about 30 percent in May from the previous month. The supermarket has been forced to cut prices by 10 percent in a bid to draw customers back. Yagi Yoshiki, a branch manager of Super Marusan, said, "We can't just throw rice away, so we'll have to sell it at a discount -- even if that means losing money." The manager said the drop in sales has also forced the store to cut back on orders for brand-name rice.


NHK
8 hours ago
- NHK
Japan ramps up rice imports from Taiwan
Japan's surging rice prices have been a boon for Taiwanese farmers, who are enjoying a surge in demand for their crop as a result. On Monday, Taiwan's Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih attended a ceremonial event in Hsinchu City to mark a recent spike in shipments to Japan. Taking pride of place was a Japan-bound container packed with 100 tons of rice. The Minister was eager to talk up the flavor of the locally grown grains: "I'd love for Japanese consumers to know about the high quality of the rice we grow in Taiwan. Hopefully it can take a bigger slice of the Japanese market." Taiwan sent nearly 7,800 tons of rice to Japan from January to May. The agriculture ministry says that's already about double the amount for all of 2024. It expects shipments for this year to top 10,000 tons.


Japan Times
11 hours ago
- Japan Times
JSDA said to probe brokerages on unsuitable Japanese bond sales
A Japanese securities industry group is probing brokerages on inappropriate bond selling practices amid surging investor demand for higher-yielding corporate debt. The Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA), which helps oversee the sector, sent questionnaires to nine major local and foreign brokerages asking about bond selling irregularities, such as overstating to issuers how much demand there is for their debt, according to people familiar with the matter. The probe marks a step toward ridding Japan's primary bond market of opaque sales practices as rising interest rates in the nation boost investor appetite for debt with higher yields and companies rush to sell notes before borrowing costs climb further. Foreign participation in Japan's corporate and municipal bond markets is also growing, putting pressure on domestic brokerages to conduct sales in a way that follows global norms. "It's crucial for the market to function effectively as a price discovery mechanism,' said Yuuki Fukumoto, senior financial researcher at NLI Research Institute. "If it doesn't, investors will eventually pull out, and the market will face serious consequences.' Fukumoto also said that "issuers are struggling to keep up with rising interest rates,' and lead underwriters are caught "in a dilemma' between being pressured to keep issuance costs low and facing investors demanding higher yields. Steps to increase market transparency have been tried in the past. In a market where overstating demand is considered an open secret, the JSDA in 2021 required lead managers who are appointed by issuers to disclose investor demand data for corporate and municipal bonds. But some bonds aren't covered by the rule, including certain retail bonds and regional debt that are underwritten without a lead manager. The JSDA held a working group meeting in late March to discuss false reporting in such deals and began preparing a broader investigation, according to a document. The questionnaire asked securities firms whether they contacted investors about future bond offerings before official filings were submitted, or witnessed such activity, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they were discussing private matters. Responses were due by the end of May. A JSDA representative declined to comment. The association is especially interested in the scope of inappropriate practices in corporate note sales targeting individual investors, who tend to be less financially literate than institutions, the people said. Those kinds of questionable transactions were tolerated in past decades, when Japan's credit market was quiet, dominated by domestic professional investors with limited trading volume. But now with retail investors and overseas traders becoming more active in the market, increased disclosure looks necessary.