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Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Matsushita May Acquire Control of Hitachi LCD Unit
Matsushita May Acquire Control of Hitachi LCD Unit
Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the world's largest maker of plasma televisions, may buy control of a Hitachi Ltd. unit to increase sales of faster-growing liquid-crystal display sets.
The company may almost double its stake in LCD maker IPS Alpha Technology Ltd. to more than 50 percent, the Osaka-based maker of Panasonic-brand products said in a statement today. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
Matsushita joins LG.Philips LCD Co. in buying shares of display makers to weather a supply shortage that analysts at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and UBS AG estimate will persist next year. LCD TVs are taking market share from plasma by offering brighter images and slimmer models.
``The move will give Matsushita a foothold to expand in LCDs,'' said Hideyuki Suzuki, an analyst at SBI E*Trade Securities Co. in Tokyo. ``There's been a concern with Matsushita because it's focusing on plasma screens at a time when LCD screens are overwhelmingly better.''
Global shipments of LCD TVs will rise 33 percent to 94.7 million units in 2008 as those of plasma sets climb 26 percent to 13.1 million units, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimates this month.
Matsushita shares rose 0.4 percent to 2,310 yen as of 2:07 p.m. in Tokyo. Hitachi's stock climbed 3.7 percent.
Largest Shareholder
Hitachi is the largest shareholder in IPS Alpha with a 50 percent stake, followed by Matsushita's 30 percent and Toshiba Corp.'s 15 percent. The venture said in September it's spending 9 billion yen ($79 million) to raise annual production capacity, in terms of 32-inch panels, at its Mobara plant in Chiba prefecture by 20 percent to 6 million units by the end of September 2008.
Separately, Matsushita and Canon Inc. said in the statement they will each buy 24.9 percent Hitachi Displays Ltd., which makes smaller LCDs used in mobile phones and cameras, by the end of March. Canon's holdings in the company may increase to a controlling stake, according to the statement.
Matsushita and Canon expect the investments to help the companies develop new organic light emitting diode displays, according to the statement. Organic panels are brighter, slimmer and consume less energy than LCDs.
The investments add to evidence of a reorganization in Japan's display industry after competition including from South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp. drove down prices and profits. Toshiba, Japan's largest chipmaker, said last week it may sell its stake in IPS after agreeing to buy panels from Sharp Corp.
BLOOMBERG
Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the world's largest maker of plasma televisions, may buy control of a Hitachi Ltd. unit to increase sales of faster-growing liquid-crystal display sets.
The company may almost double its stake in LCD maker IPS Alpha Technology Ltd. to more than 50 percent, the Osaka-based maker of Panasonic-brand products said in a statement today. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
Matsushita joins LG.Philips LCD Co. in buying shares of display makers to weather a supply shortage that analysts at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and UBS AG estimate will persist next year. LCD TVs are taking market share from plasma by offering brighter images and slimmer models.
``The move will give Matsushita a foothold to expand in LCDs,'' said Hideyuki Suzuki, an analyst at SBI E*Trade Securities Co. in Tokyo. ``There's been a concern with Matsushita because it's focusing on plasma screens at a time when LCD screens are overwhelmingly better.''
Global shipments of LCD TVs will rise 33 percent to 94.7 million units in 2008 as those of plasma sets climb 26 percent to 13.1 million units, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimates this month.
Matsushita shares rose 0.4 percent to 2,310 yen as of 2:07 p.m. in Tokyo. Hitachi's stock climbed 3.7 percent.
Largest Shareholder
Hitachi is the largest shareholder in IPS Alpha with a 50 percent stake, followed by Matsushita's 30 percent and Toshiba Corp.'s 15 percent. The venture said in September it's spending 9 billion yen ($79 million) to raise annual production capacity, in terms of 32-inch panels, at its Mobara plant in Chiba prefecture by 20 percent to 6 million units by the end of September 2008.
Separately, Matsushita and Canon Inc. said in the statement they will each buy 24.9 percent Hitachi Displays Ltd., which makes smaller LCDs used in mobile phones and cameras, by the end of March. Canon's holdings in the company may increase to a controlling stake, according to the statement.
Matsushita and Canon expect the investments to help the companies develop new organic light emitting diode displays, according to the statement. Organic panels are brighter, slimmer and consume less energy than LCDs.
The investments add to evidence of a reorganization in Japan's display industry after competition including from South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp. drove down prices and profits. Toshiba, Japan's largest chipmaker, said last week it may sell its stake in IPS after agreeing to buy panels from Sharp Corp.
BLOOMBERG
Retail Sales Fell for Fourth Week, ShopperTrak Says
Retail Sales Fell for Fourth Week, ShopperTrak Says
Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. stores fell for the fourth straight week as rising fuel and food prices threatened to hand retailers their worst holiday shopping season in five years.
Spending fell 2.2 percent for the week through Dec. 22 from a year earlier, Chicago-based ShopperTrak RCT Corp. said in a statement today. Discounter Target Corp. said separately that sales at stores open at least a year may decline in December after customer visits slowed following the Thanksgiving holiday.
A 7.6 percent increase on the Saturday before Christmas wasn't enough to lift retailers' revenue last week as shoppers grapple with $3-a-gallon gasoline and a deepening housing slump. This year's holiday shopping season may grow at the slowest pace since 2002 as stores struggle to recapture the gains they saw on the Friday after Thanksgiving
``After a huge start of Black Friday, the consumers have never been excited since then to shop,'' Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview. ``The deals haven't gotten any better.''
Sales rose 19 percent over the weekend from Dec. 21 to Dec. 23, ShopperTrak said.
``Last-minute shoppers swamped the stores on the weekend,'' Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak, said in a statement.
Internet Sales
U.S. Internet sales have risen at the slowest pace on record as discounts cut revenue in the final days of the holiday shopping season.
Online spending from Nov. 1 through Dec. 21 increased 19 percent from the same period a year earlier to $26.3 billion, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore Inc. said Dec. 23. Sales trailed last year's 26 percent growth and the research firm's forecast for a 20 percent gain during this year's holidays.
The National Retail Federation in Washington has said that sales may rise 4 percent this November and December, the smallest gain in five years. ShopperTrak has predicted a 3.6 percent increase.
Although customer visits increased for the week ended Dec. 22, ``this increase was not sufficient to compensate for the unfavorable traffic trends that carried over into December from the week following Thanksgiving,'' Target said on a recorded call.
BLOOMBERG
Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. stores fell for the fourth straight week as rising fuel and food prices threatened to hand retailers their worst holiday shopping season in five years.
Spending fell 2.2 percent for the week through Dec. 22 from a year earlier, Chicago-based ShopperTrak RCT Corp. said in a statement today. Discounter Target Corp. said separately that sales at stores open at least a year may decline in December after customer visits slowed following the Thanksgiving holiday.
A 7.6 percent increase on the Saturday before Christmas wasn't enough to lift retailers' revenue last week as shoppers grapple with $3-a-gallon gasoline and a deepening housing slump. This year's holiday shopping season may grow at the slowest pace since 2002 as stores struggle to recapture the gains they saw on the Friday after Thanksgiving
``After a huge start of Black Friday, the consumers have never been excited since then to shop,'' Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview. ``The deals haven't gotten any better.''
Sales rose 19 percent over the weekend from Dec. 21 to Dec. 23, ShopperTrak said.
``Last-minute shoppers swamped the stores on the weekend,'' Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak, said in a statement.
Internet Sales
U.S. Internet sales have risen at the slowest pace on record as discounts cut revenue in the final days of the holiday shopping season.
Online spending from Nov. 1 through Dec. 21 increased 19 percent from the same period a year earlier to $26.3 billion, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore Inc. said Dec. 23. Sales trailed last year's 26 percent growth and the research firm's forecast for a 20 percent gain during this year's holidays.
The National Retail Federation in Washington has said that sales may rise 4 percent this November and December, the smallest gain in five years. ShopperTrak has predicted a 3.6 percent increase.
Although customer visits increased for the week ended Dec. 22, ``this increase was not sufficient to compensate for the unfavorable traffic trends that carried over into December from the week following Thanksgiving,'' Target said on a recorded call.
BLOOMBERG
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