Japanese electronics conglomerate Toshiba Corp has reaffirmed its relationship with sole China distributor Digital China Holdings, despite launching its own sales office on the mainland.
'In China, Digital China is our only PC distributor. We have good relations with Digital China and there is no reason to drop our business with them,' said a Toshiba spokeswoman at the company's Tokyo headquarters, easing concerns the pair's eight-year relationship might be coming to an end.
Toshiba's recent move to set up a Shanghai sales and marketing office sparked worries the Japanese electronics giant might begin selling its products directly in China, contributing to a 15 per cent decline in Digital China's share price over the past three weeks.
Toshiba said the purpose of its new Shanghai sales office was to reinforce its marketing capabilities the mainland.
'The purpose of establishing a Shanghai sales office is to enhance our marketing capabilities and expand sales of Toshiba-brand PCs in China together with Digital China,' the Toshiba spokeswoman said.
Main board-listed Digital China is the mainland's largest distributor of information technology products, and Toshiba notebooks account for a significant portion of the company's business.