Joint venture with Thomson of France suffers accumulated losses of Euro 203 million
TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings, which reported a HK$1.52 billion nine-month net loss, will close most of its European television-making operations and return the Thomson trademark to the French video-technology giant of the same name, the Hong Kong-listed company said.
The nine-month loss was entirely due to the European operations, originally part of a joint venture with Thomson, Li Dongsheng, the chairman of Huizhou-based TCL Multimedia and its Shenzhen-listed parent firm, TCL Corp, said in an announcement.
The European business had accumulated losses of Euro203 million (HK$2 billion) as of September 30, Mr Li said.
TCL Multimedia failed to meet minimum sales targets set out in last year's deal with Thomson, which entitled the French company to end its agreement to grant TCL a 20-year licence to use Thomson trademarks in Europe, North America and other countries, he said.
Instead, TCL can use Thomson's trademarks in Europe for only two more years and seven more years in Russia, the Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
