Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. (Osaka, Japan), a developer of rechargeable batteries, announced that it has named Koichi Maeda, a former Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. executive, as Vice President. Maeda will help Chief Executive Tomoyo Nonaka and President Toshimasa Iue push through job cuts and other reforms to revive profit. Chief Financial Officer Yoichiro Furuse, who was also a Sumitomo group banker, left the company October 7, 2005, after a disagreement with management.
As a possible result of the news, the company's stock rose as much as 13 percent to ¥272 in early trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Shares of the company, which expects a ¥140 billion loss ($1.2 billion) this fiscal year after a record ¥171.5 billion loss last year, had been trading near 26-year lows. Sanyo also raised its full-year sales target for rechargeable batteries by 8.6 percent as it introduced new batteries that retain their power longer. Sanyo expects ¥330 billion in sales for rechargeable batteries for the year ending March 31st, up from its earlier forecast of ¥304 billion and ¥289.7 billion a year ago.
