Foxconn to reorganise and sell assets after posting loss

Foxconn International Holdings (FIH), the world's largest contract manufacturer of mobile telephones, plans to consolidate resources and sell assets to parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry after posting a sharp fall in earnings.

'Our alarming setback in 2010 has created a sense of urgency in the organisation,' chairman and chief executive Samuel Chin Wai-leung said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Taipei-based Hon Hai, the world's biggest electronics manufacturing services provider known by the trade name 'Foxconn Technology Group', has a controlling 70.58 per cent stake in the Hong Kong- listed FIH.

There are five publicly traded firms among the many subsidiaries and affiliates of Hon Hai with operations on the mainland. The group's Taiwan-listed companies include thermal solutions supplier Foxconn Technology, semiconductor-manufacturing equipment and light-emitting diode assembler Foxsemicon Integrated Technology, printed circuit board maker Pan-International Industrial and flat-panel displays provider Chimei Innolux.

FIH yesterday reported a net loss of US$218 million for last year, representing a 659 per cent fall from its net profit of US$39 million in 2009.

Chin said falling handset prices due to intense market competition by the major global brands had put pressure on FIH's results, despite efforts to diversify its customer base and sources of revenue.

The company has among its top-shelf clients Apple, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.