Earlier this month, Sharp signed a white goods licensing deal with Vestel. It was later expanded and includes an agreement to license Sharp’s AV business in Europe to Universal Media Corporation (UMC) in Slovakia.
Sharp’s consumer electronics business in Europe, which is focused on LCD TVs, has been suffering losses since 2008 (and the entire company has been in trouble since 2009 (Display Monitor Vol 16 No 17) – TA). Recent measures have returned the overall company to profit (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 20), but its European TV business was still facing difficulties. Therefore, to raise profitability, the company is to license its LCD TV business to UMC and its white goods sales and marketing to Vestel.
Structural reform costs related to the move are expected to be incurred in or after the second quarter of the company’s current fiscal year, which will end in March 2015. Sharp has warned of ‘extraordinary losses’ of approximately
