Japan's struggling consumer electronics maker Sharp could shut its remaining overseas TV factories but still expects its TV operations to turn profitable next year, a company executive said on Thursday. Closing TV plants in China and Malaysia "could come up on the agenda as the company is considering various restructuring measures," Kenichi Kodani, head of Sharp's digital information appliance division, told reporters during a media tour of its TV plant in Tochigi, eastern Japan.

Sharp sold its TV factory in Poland last year and agreed earlier this year to sell its plant in Mexico to China's Hisense Group. Sales or closure of its China and Malaysia plants would mean its major TV manufacturing sites are only in Japan.