Sharp enjoys 13.5 percent surge in June quarter profits

TOKYO (AFP) Jul 29, 2003
Japan's Sharp said Monday net profit jumped 13.5 percent in the June quarter to 14.0 billion yen (118 million dollars) from a year ago due to the popularity of liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions and photo-snapping cellphones.

The hi-tech firm's recurring profit surged 17.3 percent over the period to 25.8 billion yen, on revenue of 511.7 billion yen -- a 7.2 percent increase.

"We made efforts to expand sales of LCD colour TV sets and camera-equipped mobile phones," Sharp Corp. said in a statement.

Revenue from the electronics segment -- which includes televisions and mobile handsets -- grew 1.4 percent to 339.5 billion yen.

But sluggish demand for personal computers pushed sales in the information equipment sector down 1.1 percent to 92.5 billion yen.

Despite the good results, Sharp decided to maintain its full year forecast to March 2004, with net profit seen at a record 50 billion yen, recurring profit at 100 billion yen on revenue of 2.15 trillion yen.

SPACE.WIRE