Sanyo boss Tomoyo Nonaka wants a new-look company to emerge

The firm, which forecast a record loss for the year, plans to raise up to 300bn yen ($2.5bn; �1.5bn) by selling new shares to existing shareholders.

It also will accelerate job cuts, and plans to have trimmed 10,000 workers by the end of January 2006.

Sanyo is battling increased competition from lower-cost Chinese producers.

Eco-friendly

In July the company announced a wide range of reforms aimed at cutting costs by 70bn yen a year.

At the heart of the changes was a 15% reduction in the workforce, about 14,000 jobs, over three years.

It also planned to change the products it made, focusing more on environmentally-friendly items such as solar panels and rechargeable batteries, while selling off property and cutting debt levels.

Sanyo is hoping new, greener products will revive its flagging sales

On Friday, Sanyo said it was considering spinning off its chipmaking division, and may seek a partner for its television business.

The restructuring is being overseen by chief executive Tomoyo Nonaka, a former TV anchorwoman, and company president Toshimasa Iue, a member of Sanyo's founding family.

Not alone

In the meantime, analysts say problems remain with the company's earnings potential.

Sanyo reported a net loss of 142.52bn yen in the six months to the end of September, compared with a profit of 3.40bn yen a year earlier.

Sales dropped to 1.19 trillion yen from 1.26 trillion yen.

The Osaka-based company now expects a full-year loss of 233bn yen.

Sanyo, which started as a bicycle light company in 1947, is not the only electronics firm to suffer from falling prices for mobile phones, digital cameras, and the computer chips that operate them.