Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), is to provide Sharp with a loan of ¥10 billion ($87.2 million), indicating the banking sectors’ improving confidence in Sharp’s turnaround strategy.
The news came as Sharp reported that it had returned to profit in the second half of this year (see 345s in this issue) and revised up its forecast turnover for the year to ¥2.9 trillion ($). Sharp’s two main lenders are Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. which currently have outstanding loans of approximately ¥400 billion ($3.5 billion).
