Sharp shares soar as Qualcomm money comes through

Shares in Sharp jumped 15.21 percent in a surging Tokyo market as the electronics maker announced steady progress in investment from US firm Qualcomm. The Osaka-based firm was up 61 yen to finish at 462 yen, contributing to a 4.94 percent leap in the benchmark Nikkei 225 index as investors cheered the weakening yen and better-than-expected US jobs data. Sharp said Friday after the market closed that the second batch of Qualcomm's investment in it will be completed on June 24. That will make Qualcomm the third-largest shareholder with 3.53 percent of the stock. Analysts have said boosting ties with Qualcomm, which has strength in central processing units (CPUs) for smartphones, is favourable to Sharp's corporate performance in the long term. Sharp in December announced it had struck a $120 million deal with Qualcomm as it moves to repair its tattered balance sheet, with the agreement calling for joint development of liquid crystal display (LCD) screens for smartphones. The US firm has handed over about half of the investment, buying around 30 million new shares at 164 yen, giving it a 2.56 percent stake in Sharp. The second payment was originally planned for March 29 but was delayed as the two sides discussed details of the pact. The amount of the second payment would be about 5.96 billion yen, Sharp said on Friday. This would give them around 11.9 million shares at a price of 502 yen each. A separate report by the Japanese business daily Nikkei said Monday that Sharp will be aiming for 80 billion yen sales in its new business segments including healthcare and robotics in fiscal year to March 2016.