郭臺銘收購興趣推高夏普股價

Sharp’s share price jumped 7 per cent in Tokyo on Monday after the chief executive of Foxconn said he could turn the company round in just three years if the Japanese government would let him.

富士康(Foxconn)首席執行官表示，只要日本政府允許，他能在三年內讓夏普(Sharp)重新實現盈利，在東京上市的夏普週一股價應聲上漲7%。

In remarks reported on Saturday, Terry Gou told the Central News Agency of Taiwan he could get the group to break even within two years.

郭臺銘(Terry Gou)上週六對臺灣中央社表示，他可以在兩年內令該集團實現盈虧平衡。

Mr Gou is founder of Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry. His comments followed meetings with Sharp in Osaka.

郭臺銘是全球最大的電子產品代工製造商——富士康的創始人，該公司的另一個名稱是鴻海精密工業股份有限公司(Hon Hai Precision Industry)。他是在與夏普在大阪開會後發表上述言論的。

The remarks highlight the enduring value of Sharp’s technology and Mr Gou’s interest in the struggling company. They put pressure on Tokyo to let him invest in an icon of the Japanese electronics industry.

郭臺銘的言論突顯了夏普在技術方面的持久價值，以及郭臺銘對這家掙扎中的企業的興趣。這番言論給東京方面帶來壓力，要求其允許他投資於日本電子行業的標誌性企業。

Sharp has fallen into a deep crisis after its world-leading solar cell and liquid crystal display businesses fell prey to cheaper competitors in Taiwan and China, then Apple decimated its top position in the Japanese mobile phone market.

近年夏普陷入嚴峻危機，因爲其世界領先的太陽能電池和液晶顯示屏(LCD)業務不敵臺灣和中國大陸更爲廉價的競爭對手，而蘋果(Apple)徹底擊潰了夏普在日本手機市場的霸主地位。

According to CNA, Mr Gou said that unlike when he invested in Sharp’s LCD unit three years ago, the problem was not opposition from the company. In 2012, Mr Gou bought a 38 per cent stake in Sharp’s large LCD business through a personal investment vehicle.

據中央社報道，郭臺銘表示，現在的情況跟他三年前投資夏普LCD業務時不同，問題並不是該公司的反對。2012年，郭臺銘通過一件個人投資工具，收購了夏普大型LCD業務38%的股份。

This time, he said, the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, a government-backed fund, was worried about exporting Sharp’s technology.

他說，這一次，一個由政府支持的基金——日本產業革新機構(INCJ)對輸出夏普的技術感到擔心。

The INCJ is behind the merger of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi’s display operations into Japan Display. It has been trying to arrange its own rescue plan for Sharp.

INCJ是促成索尼(Sony)、東芝(Toshiba)和日立(Hitachi)三家的顯示器業務合併成日本顯示器公司(Japan Display)的機構。該基金正試圖安排自己對夏普的拯救計劃。

After years of struggle, Sharp has fallen into a renewed crisis with a net loss of Y83.6bn in the first half of the current fiscal year, due to the plunging price of LCD panels for smartphones.

掙扎多年後，夏普已陷入一輪新的危機，隨着智能手機LCD面板價格驟跌，本財年上半年該公司淨虧損836億日元。

The company is cutting thousands of jobs. It has pulled out of the North American television market and in June sold Y225bn of preference shares to its lending banks to shore up the balance sheet.

該公司正要裁減數千職位。它已退出北美電視機市場，並在今年6月向貸款銀行出售了2250億日元的優先股以支撐其資產負債表。

But the losses mean Sharp is still in a fragile position, with just Y181bn of equity supporting a Y1,787bn balance sheet, meaning it must either raise more funds or sell out.

然而巨大的虧損意味着夏普仍處於資金脆弱的地位，17870億日元的資產負債表僅靠1810億日元股本支持，這意味着它必須要麼籌措更多資本，要麼出售資產。

A report by Kyodo News, claiming Foxconn is willing to pay Y300bn ($2.49bn) to acquire Sharp in full, added to the share price rally.

共同社一篇報道稱，富士康願意斥資3000億日元（合24.9億美元）全盤收購夏普，這進一步提振了夏普股價。

At Y118, the share price was still down by 56 per cent during 2015, far below the levels above Y2,000 it traded at a decade ago. At current prices, Sharp has a market capitalisation of about Y200bn.

目前118日元的股價仍相當於在2015年下跌了56%，遠遠低於10年前每股2000日元的價位。按目前價格計算，夏普的市值約爲2000億日元。