“Japanese display maker Sharp Corp , a supplier to Apple Inc, will aim to boost sales to the iPhone maker’s rival Samsung Electronics Co under a three-year rehabilitation roadmap after posting a worse-than-expected $5.4 billion net loss in the last financial year,” Reiji Murai and Tim Kelly report for Reuters.
“The business plan, released on Tuesday, will also lean on banks for another 150 billion yen ($1.5 billion ) in funds after they saved it last year from failure, with a 200 billion yen convertible bond falling due in September,” Murai and Kelly report. “‘For Sharp, the way forward is to forge various alliances to generate new oppportunites,’ said Kozo Takahashi, who was named president on Tuesday after his predecessor held the post for barely a year.”
Murai and Kelly report, “Takahashi said Sharp, which took big writeoffs last year after a focus on making screens for its own struggling TV business left it with excess capacity, will double to two-thirds the portion of panels produced for customers such as Samsung and Apple. He added that Sharp would look at expanding cooperation with Samsung in technology for small screens used in smartphones and other mobile devices.”
“A key challenge for Sharp’s recovery, however, is keeping its factories busy enough to earn profits that will satisfy its creditors despite slowing growth in its business making screens for Apple’s iPads and iPhones,” Murai and Kelly report. “Analysts project annual profit growth at Apple to average less than 5 percent over the next decade, compared with an average of 60 percent over the past five years.”
MacDailyNews Take: Which analysts; based on whose data; anticipating which products in the future? If “analysts’ projections” were right, Apple would be dead for a decade by now, instead of being the world’s most valuable company. Minor discrepancy. If only we had a penny for every incorrect analyst projection we’ve read over the years.
Murai and Kelly report, “In January, Sharp had to curtail production of 9.7-inch iPad screens, hurting output levels and threatening its recovery in profitability. The Japanese company is preparing to begin large-scale production next month of screens for Apple’s next iPhone model, sources familiar with the matter said.”
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