Struggling Sharp Corp. will accelerate sales of its assets to secure funds and improve its capital adequacy ratio while aiming to expand sales of its mainstay liquid crystal display panels this year, the company’s president said Monday.
On the sales of assets, Kozo Takahashi said in an interview with Kyodo News and other media, “We’ll bolster the capital adequacy ratio by selling idle facilities and shareholdings.” Assets subject to possible sales are equipment not used anymore due to renewal of product models.
Takahashi did not unveil shareholdings the company intends to sell.
The Osaka-based electronics maker’s capital adequacy ratio has recovered to around 13 percent after conducting a public offering and third-party allotment to Lixil Group Corp. and two other companies last year.
But the ratio is expected to fall to about 8 percent when it books its corporate pension shortage as liability at the end of March.
“Our financial ground is one step above the level which is really risky, but it’s not enough,” Takahashi said.
To ease the impact of an anticipated sales decline following the sales tax increase in April, the company plans to roll out one or two new products that “everyone has not seen very much” from April to June, he added.