Sharp doubles its losses

Sharp has reported net losses of nearly £3 billion for the first three quarters of fiscal 2012 – double the amount lost in the same period of 2011.

As well as citing structural changes for the change, the vendor also reported a 6.4 per cent decline in sales during the nine-month period.

Problems with the Japanese economy, the slowdown of growth in China and the Eurozone financial crisis have all contributed to a difficult year for the vendor.

Nonetheless, Sharp’s president Takashi Okuda said he’d be pressing ahead with the company’s restructuring programme, which includes reducing inventory and cutting its workforce by ten per cent.

“We are still in a tough spot financially and earnings-wise, so we’re going to accelerate our structural reforms without easing up,” said Okuda. Likening the situation to climbing a mountain, he added: “I’d say we’re still not even at the base.”