TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings will close most of its European television-making operations and return the Thomson trademark to the French video-technology giant, the <i>South China Morning Post</i> reported. The Hong Kong-listed mainland company announced the closure after reporting US$195.4 million in losses in nine months, which it said was entirely due to the European operations, originally part of a joint venture with Thomson. The European business had accumulated losses of US$257 million as of September 30, Li Dongsheng said. The closure comes after Thomson exercised an option to end its agreement to grant TCL a 20-year licence to use Thomson trademarks in Europe, North America and other countries when TCL Multimedia failed to meet minimum sales targets. TCL will now focus on contract manufacturing television sets for Europe, Li said. TCL's shares, suspended on October 27, remained untraded yesterday. The stock last traded at US$0.09.
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