Sharp on Tuesday forecast its first annual operating profit in three years after it cut jobs and withdrew from its television business in North America.
Sharp, now owned by Taiwan's Foxconn, expects an operating profit of 25.7 billion yen ($245 million) for the year to end-March, recovering from a 162 billion yen loss the previous year.
Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, bought two-thirds of Sharp for around $3.7 billion in August. Sharp cut about 6,000 jobs, or about 12 percent of its workforce in the previous business year.
Sharp is competing with Chinese pancel makers that are rapidly expanding capacity, and South Korean rivals that lead in next-generation organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens.
For future versions of its iPhone, Apple is expected to adopt OLED screens.
In September Sharp announced plans to spend $570 million to build OLED production lines that will begin fabricating screens from around April 2018.
For the second quarter, Sharp posted an operating profit of 2.5 billion yen compared with a 3.5 billion profit a year earlier.
Sharp also unveiled its new corporate motto, "Be Original.," which embodies the company's drive to become an inspiring global brand. Be Original. will be featured in Sharp's future global branding campaigns and serves as the company's new commitment to customers around the world.
The Japanese company said that "Be Original." reflects the corporate spirit that founder Tokuji Hayakawa described in Sharp's Business Creed, "Sincerity and Creativity," which guides the company's conduct. |