U.S.-China trade friction, fluctuating demand among major customers, and other factors combined for a market environment much more challenging than anticipated through the end of the year.
The OEM has released its full year report, ended the 31 March 2019 where year-on-year sales declined 1.1 percent to ¥2,400 billion ($2.186 billion/ €1.953 billion). Operating profits declined 6.6 percent to ¥84,1 billion ($766 million/ €684 million) and ordinary profits declined 22.7 percent to ¥69 billion ($628 million/ €561 million).
Ahead of environmental changes, Sharp are shifting focus to quality above quantity, securing bottom-line profits and profit margin in excess of prior- year results. The report says: “While the business environment continues to be a challenge for the time being, we plan to create feature-rich products and services through cutting-edge 8K+5G Ecosystem and AIoT technologies to strengthen our global brand and deliver higher net sales and profits compared to FY2018.”
The Sharp report also advises they plan to strengthen earnings capacity and grow business through more cost-reduction initiatives and anticipate that their product segments to continue to grow at a satisfactory pace. The Sharp devices business should also exhibit growth as we improve our capabilities through collaborations within the industry.
The report contains details of major initiatives across the business for 2019, but no information or detail on their imaging technology business.
You can download the full financial report here.
