Sharp’s latest financial results show an encouraging growth in sales and profits.
Sharp Corporation has published its consolidated financial results for the second quarter of 2017, ending 30 September, and the figures point to a very successful year so far for the Japanese company.
With net sales for the equivalent period last year showing a slump of 28.1 percent, a remarkable turnaround this year has seen an increase of 21.3 percent, rising from ¥919bn ($8.05bn/€6.9bn) last year to ¥1.1trillion ($9.6bn/€8.3bn) in 2017.
Operating profits have also risen sharply, climbing from ¥79 million ($692,000/€596,000) to ¥40 billion ($350 million/€302 million) this year. Ordinary profit now stands at ¥41 billion ($359 million/€309 million), a stark contrast to 2016’s ¥32 billion ($280 million/€241 million) loss.
The company has concurrently published its forecast of financial results for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2018. It predicts total net sales of ¥2.5 trillion ($21.9 billion/€18.8 billion), a rise of 22.4 percent from the end of the preceding fiscal year, as well as a 48.9 percent increase in operating profit, taking it up to ¥93 billion ($814 million/€701 million). Most striking of all is the forecast growth in ordinary profit, which Sharp envisage will reach ¥87 billion ($762 million/€656 million) – an increase of 247 percent.
Looking specifically at Sharp’s Smart Business Solutions segment, which includes amongst other things its range of digital MFPs, operating profits dropped slightly in the second quarter compared to last year, from ¥11.2 billion ($98 million/€84 million) to ¥8.9 billion ($78 million/€67 million). First half sales, however, increased from ¥159.6 billion ($1.39 billion/€1.20 billion) to ¥162.7 billion ($1.42 billion/€1.22 billion).