Sharp Corp, Japan's biggest maker of liquid-crystal displays, said net income in the third quarter of its business year rose 27 percent on soaring demand for flat-screen televisions and computers.
Group net income rose to ?17.8 billion (US$169 million) from ?14 billion in the same period a year earlier. Sales rose 10 percent to ?580.5 billion from ?526 billion, the company said in a statement released through the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Flat-screen TVs and computer displays are among the best-selling products for Sharp and rivals such as Sony Corp and Samsung Electronics Co. Sharp plans to double annual sales of LCD panels for TV screens to 3 million units by March 2005.
"We like Sharp. It has a clear product focus," said Christian Takushi who helps manage about US$660 million in Japanese equities, including Sharp, at Swissca Portfolio Management in Zurich.
"The trouble is that Sharp is already recognized and a lot of fund managers are overweight," Sharp stuck to its full-year net income forecast of ?57 billion, because the yen's rise against the dollar may erode earnings.
"We left the full-year outlook unchanged because of uncertainty in the currency market," said Hiroshi Saji, Sharp's vice president, at a press conference in Osaka, western Japan. The yen has risen 5.2 percent against the dollar since Oct. 1. The company didn't say what impact the yen's increase may already have had on earnings.
"Though we're seeing some weakness in Sharp's stock price recently, it's hard to see that the stock will continue to fall when it's coming out with products that sell," said Kazunori Ohtomo, a fund manager at STB Asset Management Co in Tokyo.
"From what we're seeing in their earnings, Sharp's stock could test highs going forward," Ohtomo said.
Sharp's operating profit, or sales less the cost of goods sold and selling, general and administrative expenses, rose 12 percent to ?32.7 billion during the quarter. Operating profit at its liquid-crystal-display business rose 38 percent to ?8.3 billion, the company said.
December shipments in Japan of liquid-crystal displays used for televisions almost doubled to 242,000 units, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association has said on its Web site.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique