Japan's Sharp Corp set to slide back into the red – Nikkei

TOKYO (Reuters) – Struggling Japanese electronics firm Sharp Corp is set to slide back into the red this financial year, hit by fierce price competition in TVs and other key products, the Nikkei business daily reported.

Sharp could post a net loss in the ‘tens of billions of yen’, also due in part to an extraordinary charge, in contrast to its earlier projection of a 30 billion yen (168 million pounds) profit, the Nikkei said.

Sharp officials were not immediately available for comment.

Sharp President Kozo Takahashi said this month that meeting the company’s profit forecasts would be tough due to pressure from clients to cut liquid crystal display panel prices.

Operating profit for the current year to end March is likely to around be 50 billion yen – around half the amount that the company forecast earlier and that it made last year, the Nikkei said.

Sharp made a small net profit in the last business year after posting a loss of 545 billion yen in the year ended March 2013.

(Reporting by Edwina Gibbs; Editing by Richard Pullin)