In its announcement, Sharp said that although Q1 -Q3 were in line with its prediction, the business was impacted in Q4 due to the global COVID-19 spread.
Sharp’s net sales for fiscal 2019 was ¥2,271.2 billion ($21.08 billion/ €19.27 billion), down 5.4% year-on-year. Sharp attributes the ¥178 billion ($1.65 billion/ €1.51 billion) difference in forecast and actual results to the impact by the COVID-19 pandemic. For Q42019 Sharp recorded net sales of ¥515.6 billion ($4.79 billion/ €4.37 billion), an 18% decrease compared to the same period of the previous year.
The 8K Ecosystem business segment which includes Sharp’s printers, the company recorded net sales for FY2019 of ¥1,157.2 billion ($10.74 billion/ €9.82 billion), a 11.9% decrease year-on-year. For Q42019 Sharp recorded net sales of ¥258.4 billion ($2.4 billion/ €2.2 billion).
Operating profit for the segment for fiscal 2019 ended up decreasing 68.5% year-on-year to ¥14.9 billion ($138 million/ €126 million).
Sharp said that the spread of new lifestyles, like home office working, may give rise to demand for different products and services that in the past. The company stated it will see if it can leverage its technologies to strengthen and create products and services that support these new lifestyles.
