Sharp first-half profit jumps on LCDs, maintains outlook

Japan's Sharp Corp said on Wednesday its first-half profit jumped 32 percent to a record on strong demand for liquid crystal display panels, LCD TVs and mobile phones, but it left its full-year forecast unchanged.
The result followed similarly upbeat reports from Seiko Epson Corp and South Korea's Samsung SDI Co, which benefited from strong sales of LCD panels for mobile phones. Sharp is the largest producer of cellphone-use LCDs.
Some investors question whether Sharp can maintain its momentum given that LG.Philips LCD Co, Samsung and others such as Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp, are also boosting production of LCD panels, leading to a supply glut and pushing prices down.
Sharp, also the biggest maker of LCD televisions, said group operating profit totalled 77.58 billion yen ($727.2 million) in the first six months of the business year, compared with a profit of 58.58 billion yen in the first half last year.
Sales rose 15 percent to 1.257 trillion yen.
The figures came as little surprise because Sharp issued a half year earnings forecast earlier this month, projecting an operating profit of 77 billion yen.
Sharp did not change its full-year forecasts, saying it still expected operating profit to rise 23 percent to 150 billion yen for the full year to next March 31. It is forecasting that sales will climb 12 percent on the year to 2.53 trillion yen.
Sales of Sharp's LCD TVs jumped about 90 percent in the first half to 130 billion yen as consumers traded in bulky cathode ray tube televisions for sexier flat-screen models. Some made the switch to watch the Olympic Games on a flat-screen TV.
The company has benefited from improved efficiency at its flagship Kameyama factory in western Japan, which was the world's first facility to make LCDs with "sixth generation" motherglass - glass panels from which displays are cut.
Sharp's sixth-generation motherglass measures 1.5 metres by 1.8 metres. Fifth-generation glass, used by rivals such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics, measures 1.25 by 1.1 metres. Bigger glass plates enable Sharp to cut production costs.
Sharp's stock dropped 13 percent during the July-September quarter, slightly under-performing a 11 percent fall in the electrical machinery index IELEC. Shares closed Wednesday up 0.83 percent at 1,452 yen before the earnings announcement.