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Sharp logs first-half net profit for 1st time in 4 years(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sharp Corp. on Friday reported a group net profit of 4.74 billion yen for the April-September period, returning to the black in the first half for the first time in four years, as gains on securities sales helped offset costs stemming from restructuring its unprofitable European operations. The net profit compares with a loss of 4.33 billion yen in the same period last year. But the struggling electronics maker saw its group operating profit drop 13.6 percent from a year earlier to 29.22 billion yen and its group sales fall 1.1 percent to 1.33 trillion yen, with the April 1 consumption tax hike hitting sales of home appliances and solar panels. Sharp's mainstay small and medium-sized liquid crystal display panels sold well to Chinese smartphone makers, but the results were not enough to lift its operating profit, the company said. Sales of LCDs for use in smartphones and tablet devices to Chinese clients amounted to around 100 billion yen in the first half of the business year, and a stronger outcome is expected in the second half, Sharp said. Acknowledging that the electric appliance maker failed to achieve its earlier projected profits for the half-year period, President Kozo Takahashi told a press conference in Tokyo," We must recover (the losses) by all means in the full-year period." For the full business year ending March, Sharp maintained its forecast of a consolidated net profit of 30 billion yen, up 159.5 percent from the previous year, and an operating profit of 100 billion yen, down 7.9 percent. It revised downward its sales outlook to 2.9 trillion yen from the initially projected 3 trillion yen Since posting a record group net loss of 545.35 billion yen in fiscal 2012, Sharp has closed its solar cell business in Europe and has signed brand licensing agreements with Slovakian and Turkish companies to make and sell home appliances in Europe. In its latest earnings report, the Osaka-based company said it booked 5.7 billion yen in extraordinary losses as structural reform costs related to its household appliance business in Europe. But Sharp was able to post a net profit partly due to gains on securities sales, it added. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |