Sharp’s chairman Mikio Katayama is likely to be escorted to the company’s car park where PR girls shower him with cherry blossom and he does the honourable thing, according to rumours coming out from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Sharp, Japan's leading maker of liquid crystal displays, is expected to reveal a new medium-term business management plan on May 14. It wants a new management structure for a business rebuilding with authority concentrated with Okuda, the news agency said.

The company's main creditor banks, Mizuho Corporate Bank and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, have been calling for Katayama's retirement because his presence caused uncertainty in the decision-making process and his retirement was considered unavoidable.

Katayama has already notified creditors of his intention to step down and a company adviser, Katsuhiko Machida, and a special adviser, Haruo Tsuji, were expected to join him in the car park. Sharp is expected to record a $5.1 billion net loss in the year that ended on March 31 as panel plants asset write offs crimped its bottom line.