// Now Sharp Q2 operating profit dips as Japan sales tax hike weighs ~ EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY

Saturday 1 November 2014

Now Sharp Q2 operating profit dips as Japan sales tax hike weighs


TOKYO: Japanese electronics maker Sharp said on Friday its second-quarter operating profit slipped 18.3%, missing forecasts, as a consumption tax increase in Japan squeezed sales of electronic parts, TVs and white goods.

Sharp's operating profit for July-September fell to 24.5 billion yen ($224 million) from 30 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. That was below an average estimate of 28.2 billion compiled from seven analyst forecasts gathered by Thomson Reuters StarMine.

But Sharp reiterated its full-year operating profit forecast of 100 billion yen, saying earnings from its growing liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels business more than tripled in the first half of the year amid increasing orders from Chinese smartphone makers. In the year ended March 2014, operating profit was 108.6 billion yen.

Sharp is working its way through a restructuring to reduce reliance on products like TVs in the wake of heavy losses in recent years when it was undercut by cheaper Asian rivals. In a shift more pronounced than at other Japanese electronics makers, it's increasingly focusing on selling LCDs to customers like Apple and a new breed of Chinese smartphone makers.

For the second quarter, the company said its display panels division accounted for three-quarters percent of operating profit, up from less than 59% in the same period a year earlier.

By 0505 GMT, Sharp shares were up 3.8%, in line with a broad market rally and a 4.4% gain in the benchmark Nikkei triggered by unexpected move by Japan's central bank to ease monetary policy.


TOKYO: Japanese electronics maker Sharp said on Friday its second-quarter operating profit slipped 18.3%, missing forecasts, as a consumption tax increase in Japan squeezed sales of electronic parts, TVs and white goods.

Sharp's operating profit for July-September fell to 24.5 billion yen ($224 million) from 30 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. That was below an average estimate of 28.2 billion compiled from seven analyst forecasts gathered by Thomson Reuters StarMine.

But Sharp reiterated its full-year operating profit forecast of 100 billion yen, saying earnings from its growing liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels business more than tripled in the first half of the year amid increasing orders from Chinese smartphone makers. In the year ended March 2014, operating profit was 108.6 billion yen.

Sharp is working its way through a restructuring to reduce reliance on products like TVs in the wake of heavy losses in recent years when it was undercut by cheaper Asian rivals. In a shift more pronounced than at other Japanese electronics makers, it's increasingly focusing on selling LCDs to customers like Apple and a new breed of Chinese smartphone makers.

For the second quarter, the company said its display panels division accounted for three-quarters percent of operating profit, up from less than 59% in the same period a year earlier.

By 0505 GMT, Sharp shares were up 3.8%, in line with a broad market rally and a 4.4% gain in the benchmark Nikkei triggered by unexpected move by Japan's central bank to ease monetary policy.
Summary Sharp's operating profit for July-September fell to 24.5 billion yen ($224 million) from 30 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. For the second quarter, the company said its display panels division accounted for three-quarters percent of operating profit, up from less than 59% in the same period a year earlier.
FILE image. At 25-0 a cricket score looked in the offing until a strong rolling maul earned Japan a penalty try to briefly stop the rot. The prospect of a Super Rugby franchise coming to Japan for the 2016 season, currently under discussion by organisers SANZAR, is one the former Australia coach admits could be crucial for the future of Japanese rugby.

Tokyo shares soared 4.83 per cent to a seven-year high on Friday after the Bank of Japan ramped up its vast monetary easing programme, sending the yen into freefall.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged 755.56 points to 16,413.76, its best close since November 2007, while the Topix index of all first-section issues jumped 4.28 per cent, or 54.74 points, to 1,333.64.
BoJ policymakers said they would step up the pace of the central bank's asset-buying plan by as much as 20 trillion yen ($182 billion), bringing it to 80 trillion yen annually.

What markets didn’t know and didn’t expect was that Japanese officials would move so dramatically to try to spur that nation’s flagging recovery. Specifically, the BOJ upped its goal for the expansion of its monetary base, to 80 trillion yen ($720 billion) from ¥60 trillion to ¥70 trillion, a move the central bank’s governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, said is aimed at ending Japan’s “deflationary mind-set.” As a result of the plan to print more yen, the Japanese currency weakened to nearly 112 to the dollar from just under 108.

Meanwhile, Japan’s $1.1 trillion pension fund said it would shift its portfolio strongly toward equities—allocating 25% each to domestic and foreign stocks, up from 12% each—while trimming domestic bonds to 35% from 60%. In gambling terms, this is going all in on Abenomics, as the stimulus plan is called, after Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister.

This is truly a dazzling example of 21st century government finance. The government runs a deficit covered by IOUs, or bond borrowings. The central bank buys those bonds to fund the budget shortfall and also purchases bonds sold by the pension plan, all with reserves it creates out of thin air. The pension fund uses the newly printed yen it receives from the BOJ for its bonds to buy claims against the future earnings of private industry—that is, common stocks.

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