Sharp’s largest shareholder Foxconn has said it will push for management changes if the Japanese electronics maker fails to provide a satisfactory explanation for a big writedown that blasted a hole in the Taiwanese contract manufacturer’s quarterly profits.
The threat from the iPhonemaker over a ¥220bn ($1.63bn) impairment loss — as Sharp on Thursday wrote down the value of its display businesses in Japan and other manufacturing facilities globally — is likely to underline Japanese companies’ fears over the risks of foreign ownership.
Foxconn reported a 56 per cent drop in net profit to NT$12.8bn ($416mn) for the first quarter on Thursday, which Apple’s largest manufacturing partner said was mainly because of a NT$17.3bn investment loss from Sharp’s writedown.