Sharp assigns New President, Shares rally

Sharp Corp.(JP:6753) +4.32% (SHCAY) +0.98% on Wednesday announced Takashi Okuda will take over as president from Mikio Katayama, helping spark a late rally in its Tokyo-traded shares. Okuda, the current head of the company’s global business group, will take over as president pending approval at a shareholders meeting in June, while Katayama will become chairman, Sharp said in a statement.

The change follows last month’s forecast by the company of a net loss of 290 billion yen ($3.48 billion) in the financial year ending March 31. The loss, the largest ever for the Osaka-based company, was related to poor performance at its liquid crystal display unit, which has suffered amid aggressive price cutting and sluggish demand for LCD televisions in Japan. Sharp’s shares ended 4.3% higher, reversing from acute losses late in the session when news of the senior management changes was announced.