Shinho denies financial crisis as supplies dry up

South Korean monitor manufacturer Shinho Electronics has emerged as a possible casualty of the financial turmoil in its home country, following difficulties in supplying its UK distributors.

Shinho's UK headquarters in Fife, Scotland, has had its supply of monitors cut off from its parent company in South Korea.

Customers in the UK believe the company has filed for its country's equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in the hope of grabbing some breathing space, while it attends to financial problems brought about by the economic crisis in South East Asia. Shinho denies that its problems have grown to that extent.

Shinho sales director Mark Leslie denied the company was in receivership.

'Problems in Korea are affecting the supply of monitors, so we are temporarily restricting our supply to the UK,' he said.

However, one Korean OEM partner, which did business with Shinho in the UK and Korea, believed the monitor vendor had filed for administration and closed down its Korea factory last month. 'Almost all Korean companies are suffering, but Shinho more than most. It looks like it will go bust,' said a representative. He added that his company was already looking at alternative sources.

One UK dealer admitted that Shinho said it would not be shipping products for the next six months, but could not confirm the company has shut down.

Shinho Electronics is part of the Shinho conglomerate, which recently applied to eight Korean banks for a loan of up to 80 billion won (#31 million) after cash strapped finance companies called in a 120 billion won (#46 million) loan from the group.