Osaka, Japan — Sharp’s fiscal first-quarter sales in its audio-visual communications segment rose 13.9 percent to $1.9 billion, up from $1.7 billion last year, due to sales increases in large-size, wide-screen LCD televisions and camera-equipped mobile phones.
Operating income for the audio-visual communication segment, mainly consumer electronics, increased 4.3 percent, reaching $66.4 million in the first quarter, ended June 30, up from $63.6 million year-on-year.
Sharp, which is considered among the world’s largest makers of LCD televisions, saw its LCD color monitor and digital copier/printer business help push up first-quarter sales of the company’s information equipment segment 8 percent to $901.6 million from $834.5 million in the same three months in 2003. Operating income for the information equipment segment in the first quarter jumped 8.8 percent to $44.7 million from $41.1 million.
Overseas sales at Sharp during the first quarter moved up 17 percent, hitting $2.6 billion, compared with $2.2 billion in the same three months a year earlier.
Utilizing “assertive initiatives” to improve its competitiveness in the first three months, Sharp ratcheted up its consolidated sales 17.5 percent to $5.4 billion from a year-on-year $4.6 billion.
Consolidated operating income for the quarter climbed 22.1 percent, hitting $318.9 million, up from $261.2 million in the same quarter in 2003. Net income came in 39.3 percent higher in the first quarter, at $176.4 million, compared with $126.6 million in the year-ago period.
