Sharp Corp. said Wednesday its first-half net profit soared 41 percent to a record 39.32 billion yen, powered by strong sales of liquid crystal display TVs and cell-phone handsets.
Revenue for the April-September period rose 15 percent to 1.26 trillion yen, marking the second consecutive year of record earnings and sales for the first half.
Its strong performance was driven by continued growth in LCD TVs, sales of which nearly doubled during the period.
The company enjoyed the sharp growth -- despite falling market prices of LCD TVs, which fell some 30 percent from a year earlier -- by shifting to larger, more expensive sets, the officials said.
The company said it will expand its LCD TV lineup into larger sizes -- an area in which rival plasma display panel TVs are believed to have an advantage -- with plans to introduce screen sizes of 50-inches and larger over the next fiscal year.
It also saw a strong increase in the sale of cell-phone handsets during the period, particularly in Japan, where it introduced more high-speed third-generation models.
Despite the robust first-half results, however, the company left intact its full-year forecast made at the beginning of the fiscal year, citing such uncertainties as the U.S. and Chinese economies as well as rising oil prices.
It also cut its full-year forecast of the LCD TV sales to 2.7 million units from 3 million units, saying it has a weaker outlook on overseas markets, where, unlike in Japan, expensive flat-screen TV sets have yet to gain sales momentum.
JVC books net loss
Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. said Wednesday it booked a group net loss of 4.37 billion yen on special allowances for early retirees in the April-September first half of the current fiscal year, against a year-earlier profit of 3.51 billion yen.