Sharp Corp. said Friday its group net profit in the April-September period fell 17.8 percent from a year earlier to 22.52 billion yen ($217 million) as sales of office printers and other products continued to be hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.

Consolidated operating profit for the first half of fiscal 2020 dropped 25.3 percent to 27.60 billion yen on sales of 1.14 trillion yen, up 1.9 percent.

Sales of high-profit office printers were sluggish as the pandemic prompted more people to work from home. Weak sales of automotive displays also affected the results, the Japanese electronics maker said, adding that it observed strong demand for appliances such as air purifiers.

The fallout from the pandemic pushed its sales down by 8.5 billion yen and profits by 2.6 billion yen, the Osaka Prefecture-based firm said.

It maintained its full-year guidance, expecting net profit to more than double from the previous year to 50 billion yen and operating profit to grow 55.4 percent to 82 billion yen on sales of 2.35 trillion yen, up 3.5 percent.

"We continue to expect a steady recovery if economic activity is not restrained (by the pandemic)," Sharp President Katsuaki Nomura said at a press briefing.

But he also said there are signs of a resurgent spread of the virus in Japan and overseas and that the company will closely watch the situation and make efforts to lower risks of supply chain disruptions.

==Kyodo

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