TOKYO, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Sharp Corp. said Tuesday its net profit in fiscal 2019 had tumbled 71.8 percent from a year earlier to 20.96 billion yen (194.65 million U.S. dollars), owing to the adverse effects of the global coronavirus pandemic.
As consumer demand was hard-hit by the virus, Sharp said that sales of its home electrical appliances, including televisions, had nosedived, as at home and abroad many countries issued stay-at-home requests and shuttered stores to try and contain the virus.
The Osaka-based company said that in the recording period, sales declined 5.4 percent to 2.27 trillion yen (21.07 billion U.S. dollars), and operating profit fell 37.3 percent to 52.77 billion yen (490 million U.S. dollars).
Looking ahead, however, the firm said its outlook was not as bleak as some of its counterparts have reported recently.
The firm's Executive Vice President Katsuaki Nomura said the company expects to see robust sales of its tablet devices and medical equipment, as people continue to spend more time at home and as efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic are stepped up globally.
"We expect to see some improvement in the first quarter," Nomura said in a telephone conference.
The firm, however, opted not to release its earnings outlook for the current business year, delaying its release until August, owing to uncertainty related to the pandemic, it said.
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