Sharp rises Q2 net profit 1.4 percent

Profits at Sharp Corp. edged up 1.4 percent in the latest quarter due to sales of large flat-screen televisions, mobile phones and other products.

Osaka-based Sharp, known for its Aquos brand of liquid crystal display TVs, posted a net income of 24.22 billion yen (US$201.68 million) for the April-June period, up from 23.89 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales jumped 14.7 percent to 796.01 billion yen (US$6.63 billion) from 693.70 billion yen the previous year, buoyed by a 37.6 percent surge in audiovisual equipment, including LCD TVs and mobile phones, the company said in a statement.

Sharp left unchanged its forecast of 105.00 billion yen (US$873.82 million) in net income for the year ending March 31, 2008, a 3.2 percent increase over the previous year.