Sichuan Changhong Electric, the mainland's biggest TV-maker, plans to diversify into information technology and a wide range of small home appliances. Mianyang city deputy secretary-general Miao Ping said Changhong Electric planned to make information-technology (IT) products, including computers and IT-related home appliances, and develop the municipality's cable TV network. The company, based in Mianyang, Sichuan province, this year launched a set-top box, a device giving access to the Internet through a TV set. The move is part of the city's efforts to develop its cable TV network, which offers better quality TV broadcast and also provides Internet access. In August, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China granted Changhong Electric a credit facility worth 3.56 billion yuan (about HK$3.3 billion) to fund the conversion of the television network to digital broadcasts. The move to make information technology a growth point comes after the domestic market for the company's mainstay product, colour TV, matured. Group vice-chairman Yu Guangyin said sales of its colour-TV sets for January-October this year reached only six to seven billion yuan. Although fourth-quarter sales usually accounted for about 40 per cent of annual sales, it would not be easy for the company to meet the 20 billion yuan sales target this year, he said. The firm last year made a net profit of two billion yuan on a turnover of 11.6 billion yuan. The gross profit margin has fallen to 25 per cent, compared with 28 per cent last year. Mr Miao said the TV-maker would make efforts to explore the international market by setting up colour-TV factories in India and Russia, and a sales office in Australia. MANUFACTURING
