Sharp Operating Profit Falls by 86% in Q3 of 2015

Sharp’s operating profit fell by 86% in Q3 of 2015 from a year ago.

The Japanese tech giant’s operating profit fell to 3.5 billion yen ($29 million) in its fiscal second quarter from 24.5 billion yen in 2014.

The earnings were impacted by falling sales of smartphone displays and delays in reducing inventory.

The struggling consumer electronics maker has been bailed out two times in the last three years by its banks.

In May, Sharp announced losses in the year to March and cut more jobs.

The company has been under pressure from its lenders to sell its loss-making LCD business. The unit reported a loss of 12.7 billion yen in the quarter.

Sharp CEO Kozo Takahashi told a news conference in Tokyo that the company was in talks with several companies over a deal for its LCD unit.

“I cannot provide any names, but we are currently in negotiations with multiple companies,” he said, adding that he could not reveal a timeline for when a deal would be finalized.

In the six months to September, Sharp also saw an operating loss of 25.2 billion yen – which is its biggest half year loss in three years.

Sharp announced earlier this week that it would report an operating loss in the six month period and also lowered its annual operating profit forecast to 10 billion yen from 80 billion yen.