TOKYO: Japanese electronics firm Sharp is considering making a public share offering worth more than 100 billion yen ($ 1.15 billion) early this year, a report said.
The public offering could take place in the spring with the firm hoping to use the funds to strengthen its mainstay liquid crystal display (LCD) business and improve its creditworthiness, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.
Sharp has started talks with major creditor banks and wants to include the capital increase scheme in a mid-term business plan to be announced as early as February, the daily said without naming its sources.
The cash-strapped company said in December it had struck a 9.9-billion-yen capital injection deal with US-based chipmaker Qualcomm as it moves to repair its tattered balance sheet.
The Qualcomm deal will see the pair jointly develop energy-efficient LCD panels for smartphones using the Japanese firm’s technology, with the US company initially getting about 2.64 percent of Sharp’s stock.
Japan’s battered electronics sector has suffered from a myriad of problems including a high yen, slowing demand in key export markets, fierce overseas competition and strategic mistakes that left its finances in ruins.
Sharp has suffered a series of credit rating downgrades and warned it expects to lose about $ 5.6 billion in the fiscal year to March 2013.
The Osaka-based maker of Aquos-brand electronics has announced thousands of job losses while cutting wages for employees — from the factory floor to the boardroom — and selling real estate to shore up its balance sheet.
Sharp said last year it had reached a capital injection deal worth about $ 800 million with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision, which makes Apple gadgets in China, but the deal stalled as Sharp’s share price nosedived.
Sharp plans $ 1.15 bn share offer
Sharp plans $ 1.15 bn share offer
Closing Bell: Saudi Arabia’s main index closes in red at 10,364
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index closed lower on Sunday, shedding 185.05 points, or 1.75 percent, to end the session at 10,364.03.
Total trading turnover on the benchmark index stood at SR2.55 billion ($680 million), with 20 stocks advancing and 237 declining.
The Kingdom’s parallel market Nomu also retreated, falling 0.63 percent, or 147.19 points, to close at 23,371.82.
The MSCI Tadawul Index slipped 1.71 percent to 1,369.56.
Saudi Industrial Export Co. was the top gainer on the main market, with its share price jumping 9.87 percent to SR2.56.
Shares of Naqi Water Co. rose 2.53 percent to SR58.80, while Shatirah House Restaurant Co. advanced 2.18 percent to SR9.39.
On the downside, Gulf Union Alahlia Cooperative Insurance Co. posted the steepest decline, with its share price falling 4.61 percent to SR10.14.
On the announcements front, Scientific & Medical Equipment House Co. said it had been awarded a contract valued at SR260.98 million by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to supply uncooked food materials and catering items to beneficiaries at the ministry’s residential branches across the Kingdom.
The project scope also includes providing cooked meals to selected anti-begging offices over a 24-month period, according to a Tadawul statement. The company added that the financial impact of the contract will begin in the fourth quarter of this year.
It said further developments would be disclosed in due course after all relevant parties sign the final contract and a copy is received.
Shares of Scientific & Medical Equipment House Co. edged up 0.31 percent to SR32.44.
Separately, Dr. Soliman Abdel Kader Fakeeh Hospital Co. and its subsidiaries signed an agreement with Oloof Development Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Jazan Municipality, to lease a strategic land plot in Jazan City for SR217.99 million.
According to a Tadawul statement, the land, which spans 34,581 sq. meters, will be used to develop an integrated healthcare facility under a 50-year lease.
The company said the financial impact of the agreement is expected to begin once the medical facility is completed and becomes operational.
Shares of Dr. Soliman Abdel Kader Fakeeh Hospital Co. fell 1.92 percent to SR33.74.
