Japan's Sharp sees third loss in four years as smartphone display sales sag

A pedestrian walks past a logo of Sharp Corp at a train station in Tokyo February 3, 2014.

Credit: /Yuya Shino

- Japanese electronics supplier Sharp Corp warned it will slip into its third annual net loss in four years as fierce pricing competition saps sales of smartphone displays, the business line it had been counting on for growth.

Sharp said on Tuesday it now expects to book a net loss of 30 billion yen ($256 million) this fiscal year, compared with the 30 billion net profit it previously forecast. Analysts surveyed by Thomson has expected a full-year net profit of 22.4 billion yen.

In the April-December period its operating profit fell 37 percent, Sharp said.

Japanese technology firms like Sharp and Sony Corp have together lost billions of dollars in recent years as aggressive, cash-rich competitors like South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co and China's Huawei Technologies Co poached customers with keen pricing.

Sharp warned two weeks ago that it would likely miss its earlier forecasts without specifying new targets. The loss forecast means the company will fail to meet an earlier pledge to its creditors to remain profitable this year.

($1 = 117.1000 yen)