Sharp full-year loss shrinks 90 per cent after Hon Hai deal

TOKYO: Sharp said on Friday its full-year net loss shrank by 90 per cent and it swung to operating profit on structural reforms after being acquired last year by Taiwan’s Hon Hai. The Taiwanese company, better known as Foxconn, acquired the Japanese industrial mainstay pummelled by huge losses and mounting debts in August, taking a 66 per cent stake for $3.7 billion. The first foreign acquisition of a major Japanese electronics firm marked a watershed for Japan’s once-mighty home electronics sector, which nurtured global brands including Sony and Panasonic but has struggled in the face of foreign competition. Sharp said that for the latest fiscal year to the end of March its net loss shrank to 24.9 billion yen ($224 million) from 256.0 billion yen a year earlier. Sales fell 16.7 per cent to 2.1 trillion yen, but the Osaka-based firm booked an operating profit of 62.5 billion yen, reversing the previous year’s loss of 162.0 billion yen. The smaller net loss and operating profit turnaround was partially due to structural reforms, including cost-cutting, Sharp said. — AFP