Sharp said Thursday it returned to the red in fiscal 2014 amid sluggish liquid crystal business and mounting restructuring costs. The reported a group net loss of 222.35 billion yen ($1.87 billion) and represented a plunge from a profit of 11.56 billion yen it posted in the previous fiscal year that ended in March 2014.

For the current business year that began April 1, Sharp is expecting to log a consolidated operating profit of 80 billion yen.

On Thursday, the company also announced its new medium-term business strategy, including a variety of restructuring measures such as selling off its head office in Osaka, cutting some 3,000 jobs in Japan and withdraw from unprofitable areas.
Sharp added it will receive 200 billion yen in financial support from its two main creditor banks -- Mizuho Bank and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ -- and 25 billion yen from a corporate reconstruction fund that the two banks have invested in.

The Osaka-based electronics maker also said it will spin off its businesses, including small and medium-sized liquid crystal display panels, into five subsidiaries and slash its 121.8 billion yen capital to 500 million yen.

Sharp hopes to achieve a 28.5 billion yen profit improvement in fiscal 2015 -- accounting for 36 percent of its projected operating profit of 80 billion yen for the current business year, it said.