Sharp Corporation returned to profit in the first six months of the year, reporting a net profit of ¥4.7 billion ($40.9 million) on turnover of ¥1.32 trillion ($11.5 billion), which compares with a net loss in the first half of last year of ¥4.3 billion ($37.5 million) on turnover of ¥1.34 trillion ($11.7 billion). For the second quarter, Sharp’s net profit of ¥6.5 billion ($56.6 million) was 52.2% lower than Q2 of the previous year, while turnover of ¥707.9 billion ($6.2 billion) represented a YoY decline of 3.6%. Sales in Sharp’s digital information equipment business contributed ¥279 million ($2.4 billion) to total turnover in the first half of the year, of which LCD TV sales accounted for ¥189.1 million ($1.6 million) and mobile phones contributed ¥85.9 million ($748.9 million).
LCD TVs sold well on a unit basis in both North America and China, though the overall number of units sold and amount were lower than the same period of last year. Both the number of units sold and the valye of mobile phones were also lower YoY, but the launch of high-value-added models and cost saving efforts resulted in improvement in profit for the division. Sales of LCD panels were down 3.7% YoY at ¥460.9 billion ($4 billion), though operating income increased dramatically to ¥20.8 billion ($181.3 million), a 2.4-fold increase over the first half of 2013. Sales of small and medium panels increased YoY, but large size LCD panels were down.
