(Bloomberg) — Sharp Corp.’s energy business swung to a
loss and sales plunged for the year ended March 31 as revenue
from projects outside Japan declined.
The operating loss of 3.9 billion yen ($33 million) at the
electronics maker’s energy solutions unit compares with profit
of 32.4 billion yen a year earlier, according to an earnings
statement released by the Osaka-based company Thursday. Sales
fell 38 percent to 270.8 billion yen from 439 billion yen.
The drop in sales at the energy unit, previously known as
the solar cells product group, was the biggest of any product
group at Sharp for the fiscal year.
A difference of 54.7 billion yen was recognized between the
contracted purchasing price and current market price of
polysilicon for solar panels, the company said in a statement.
In the fourth quarter, sales at the unit totaled 74.2
billion yen and the operating loss was 2 billion yen.
Sharp has been undertaking a reorganization of its solar
business. In February, it announced it will sell U.S. unit
Recurrent Energy LLC to Canadian Solar Inc.
Profit Forecasts
Earlier, Sharp stopped making solar panels at plants in the
U.S. and the U.K. Sharp also pulled out of its Italian solar
venture, the company’s last panel-making plant overseas.
For the year, Sharp saw an impairment loss of 104 billion
yen on a solar cell plant in Sakai and on liquid-crystal display
plants, restructuring charges in Europe and elsewhere of 21.2
billion yen and a settlement of 14.3 billion yen on its solar
cell business in Europe, the company said.
Sharp is projecting a profit of 5 billion yen for its
energy solution unit for the year ending March 2016, President
Kozo Takahashi said at a press conference. The company is aiming
for 8 billion yen in profit for the year ending March 2018, he
said.
“There is big potential for energy-related businesses
while demand for industry-use solar in Japan is slowing down,”
Takahashi said, adding that the company wants to expand solution
businesses such as combining solar panels, storage batteries and
energy management in Japan.
Sharp has been developing solar panels since 1959.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
Iain Wilson, Jason Rogers