Japanese electronics giant Sharp Corp yesterday posted a record annual loss for the second year in a row, and announced plans to replace its current president after just one year on the job.
The maker of Aquos-brand electronics reported a net loss of ¥545.3 billion (US$5.4 billion) in the year to March, its worst-ever shortfall after losing ¥376 billion in the previous year.
However, Sharp said it expects to return to profitability in the current fiscal year.
Photo: Reuters
“We apologize for having to book huge losses for two straight years,” Sharp executive director Tetsuo Onishi said after the disappointing figures were published.
Sharp, which is undergoing a massive restructuring, said that company veteran Kozo Takahashi would become its new president, replacing Takashi Okuda who was set to become chairman, a title that often precedes retirement in big Japanese companies. Okuda was appointed to the top job in April last year.
The changes are part of a wider management shuffle at the firm which said the record net loss was largely due to charges stemming from its wide-ranging overhaul.
However, problems in its long-suffering television business showed few signs of abating as sales “fell drastically,” it said.
Sharp blamed the downturn on sluggish demand at home and in key market China, where a consumer boycott of Japanese brands erupted last year over a territorial spat between Beijing and Tokyo.
“Mobile phone sales also declined, due mainly to supply shortages of key components in the first half of this fiscal year and severe competition with overseas manufacturers,” Sharp said.
On a more positive note, demand for Sharp’s LCD panels jumped on big demand for small and medium-sized panels used in smartphones and tablets, it said.
Sales in the latest period were ¥2.48 trillion, up from ¥2.46 trillion a year earlier, Sharp said, adding that it was on track to eke out a small ¥5 billion net profit in the current fiscal year to March next year.
However, “we anticipate the overall business environment will remain unpredictable,” it added.
Koki Shiraishi, an analyst with SMBC Nikko Securities, said Sharp would not be able to turn itself around without rolling out more “competitive products.”
“Sharp still needs further restructuring, which will haunt the company at a time when few companies can expect big sales given the current business conditions,” Shiraishi added.
The results cap off another tough earnings season for a company which last year warned over its survival and put up its Osaka headquarters as collateral to land crucial bank loans.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is