Japanese Sharp Corp reported on Friday that it expects to receive a net profit for the first time in four years following the fiscal year ending March 2018, partly due to the reduction of costs under the leadership of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (officially known as Foxconn).
The electronics and LCD company is waiting for a profit of 59 billion yen ($ 530 million), compared to a loss of 24.9 billion yen a year earlier.
Analysts polled by Reuters, on average, predicted a figure of 41.9 billion yen.
Sharp also published its first business plan for the medium term since its merger with Foxconn last year, hoping to achieve an operating profit of 150 billion yen during the fiscal year that will end in March 2020.
Sharp teamed up with Foxconn to compete for the right to purchase the semiconductor business Toshiba (T: 6502) Corp. Last week the company announced its intention to invest up to $ 1 billion in the technology fund Vision Fund, owned by SoftBank Group Corp.
As for the Japanese stock market, it close lower at the end of the session amid negative dynamics from mining, chemical and oil industry companies and the steel industry sectors.
At the time of closing at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nikkei 225 fell 0.64%.
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the number of depreciated securities (2,172) exceeded the number of those closed in positive territory (860), while quotations of 330 shares remained virtually unchanged.
Meanwhile, in the Forex market, the USD/JPY pair fell 0.62% to 111.14, while EUR/JPY fell 0.48%, reaching the level of 124.75.
Futures on the USD index fell 0.13% to 97.01.