14 DAY TRIAL // Confirming previous revelations and reports, Sharp has announced its expectations for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2012, which happens to coincide with the third calendar quarter of this year.
The numbers aren't that bad. In fact, Sharp thinks it might actually make a profit for the July-September period.
Unfortunately, the figures for the entire year are worrisome enough that we imagine that Sharp's board of directors, not to mention its employees, are almost on the verge of panic.
Rather than a profit, the company will incur a very high operating loss, higher than even the one previously predicted.
For those who don't know, or have forgotten, Sharp said it expected to suffer a financial injury of around $1.25 billion, or 960 million Euro.
The real sum could turn out to be much, much higher: $1.94 billion, or 1.49 billion Euro according to exchange rates.
Overall, we cannot help but wonder just what Sharp will sacrifice next. It has already decided to fire 11,000 people and reduce the display manufacturing capacity in Europe and the United States. The company is also selling assets worth $2.74 million, or 2.13 billion Euro.
Even before all these moves, the company fired 5,000 people and cut the production of 32-inch LCD TV panels.
Overall, it is a sad tale, not unlike the one that Sony is the main character of. Not long ago, this company decided to cut 2,000 jobs and close a camera factory.
Sharp will soon post its financial results for the second quarter of 2012, at which point we will see exactly where it stands. It is clear enough that it is doing worse than not just Sony, but AMD as well (15% job cuts). What is left is to figure out how much worse and if the weak global economy is the only one responsible.