Jul 04, 2016
Sharp Corp. is to re-enter the European solar panel market in cooperation with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., sources have said.
In the face of weak domestic demand, Sharp plans to expand overseas using the existing sales network of Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, the sources said. Hon Hai has agreed to take a controlling stake in the troubled Osaka-based firm.
Sharp ended production of photovoltaic panels in Britain and Italy in 2014, although it has since maintained a sales base in Germany.
Sharp will launch Blacksolar panels in Europe as early as year-end, the sources said. The high-efficiency panels for household use are assembled at Sharp’s plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, but the company also aims to produce them in Europe and will consider tie-ups with local companies.
Sharp will also boost its solar business in Asia with projects to build solar power plants in Mongolia, the Philippines and Indonesia. It plans to launch sales of household panels in Taiwan.
Sharp’s solar business suffered an operating loss of ¥18.4 billion in the year ended March. Hon Hai considered selling the business but later decided to keep it, the sources said.
Sharp is among Japanese electronics makers that have been suffering amid tough competition from rivals elsewhere in Asia.
On Thursday, Toshiba Corp. completed the sale of its home appliance business unit to China’s Midea Group Co.
That marked the end of Toshiba’s status as an electronics all-rounder. It is pulling out of white goods such as washing machines and refrigerators, but Midea will continue to use the Toshiba brand for home appliances made by the unit.
The sale of a roughly 80 percent stake in Toshiba Lifestyle Products & Services Corp. for ¥51.4 billion is part of a broad restructuring at Toshiba in the wake of an accounting scandal. The reforms include job cuts and the sale of its medical equipment unit to imaging company Canon Inc.
Toshiba has posted net losses for the past two years due to hefty restructuring costs after admitting it overstated profits for years.
Source: The Japan Times Online