Sharp completed the issuance of new shares through third-party allocations to Hon Hai on Aug. 12, 2016. The share issuance significantly improved Sharp's capital base, but we think the company will take time to recover its business competitiveness and cash flow generation within Hon Hai group. Accordingly, we assess the company's stand-alone credit profile as 'ccc+'. We consider Sharp important to Hon Hai's medium- to long-term strategy, and we think the company is likely to receive reasonable support from Hon Hai if it is financially weakened. Reflecting support from Hon Hai, which has higher creditworthiness than Sharp, we have raised our corporate credit rating on Sharp one notch from the stand-alone credit profile. We are raising our long- and short-term
