TOKYO, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp eked out a first-half profit as a recent recovery in TV and panel demand cancelled out sluggish sales earlier this year, and the company kept its annual outlook above market expectations.
Operating profit at Sharp, the world's No.4 LCD TV maker behind such rivals as Samsung Electronics Co and Sony Corp, totalled 1.57 billion yen ($17.4 million) in April-September, down from a 50.76 billion yen profit a year earlier.
Sharp's flat TV and panel operations have made steady progress towards profitability from the depths of the global downturn at the start of the year as consumers start loosening purse strings, but fierce global competition and the yen's strength continued to weigh on its earnings.
Sharp on Thursday stuck to its operating profit forecast of 50 billion yen for the year to March, up from a 55.48 billion yen loss a year earlier and above the consensus of a 30.6 billion yen profit in a poll of 21 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shares in Sharp gained 54 percent since the start of the year through Wednesday, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index, which rose 29 percent. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Lincoln Feast)