The central Rome apartment comes at a 20 percent discount and nobody will find a better bargain in the Italian capital, Francesca Grasso tells her client.
The 60 square-meter, one-bedroom abode is a steal at 195,000 euros ($251,000), says Grasso, who works for the Top Casa real estate agents in Rome. “You just have to wait a bit,” she says.
By waiting, Grasso means for the owner to die. Deep in the fine print of the sale documents is a number, “88” in parentheses. It’s the seller’s age.
The worst recession since 1975 is eroding the wealth of elderly Italians and forcing them to do something they had never before considered: sell family homes to strangers at a discount on the condition that they can stay on until they pass away.
The cash transactions are called “nude sales” in Italy because in most cases the owners are stripped of ownership while retaining use of the property until they die. While they account for only 5 percent of Italian sales, they represent one of the few boom areas as the slump deepens.
There were 40,000 sales in 2008 compared with 18,000 in 2000, according to Scenari Immobiliari, a Rome-based property research Institute.
“With an aging and increasingly impoverished population there is a compelling economic reason,” says Mario Breglia, head of Scenari. “Socially also, Italians want to die, literally, in their homes, not in retirement communities.”
The sales also occur in France, where they are known as “en viager.” The purchaser pays a monthly charge while the owner lives in the house. When the owner dies, the property passes to the person making the payments.
‘House Rich’
Since 85 percent of Italians over 65 own their homes, according to government statistics, the market for naked property sales is destined to keep growing.
By 2040, one in 10 Italians will be an octogenarian, turning the nation into one of Europe’s oldest. What’s more, Italians earn an average gross annual salary of 23,405 euros, 25 percent less than the French, meaning they also get lower pensions.
“Italians are house rich but cash poor, so you do the math,” says Mario Corsini, president of the non-profit association Housing and the Elderly, which advises pensioners on housing. “This is one way for them to beef up their income and stay in their homes.”
Rosa, 85, ran an Internet ad to sell her 50 square-meter Roman apartment with a yard for 207,000 euros. She declined to give her last name because she says she doesn’t want her family and friends to know she needs to sell.
“I won’t be around forever but while I am here I want to have a good life,” Rosa, a retired school teacher, says by telephone advanced payday loan. “Then again, I may be around longer than you think.”
‘Too Weird’
It’s that potential longevity that carries the risks.
The values — updated in 2008 to take into account longer life expectancy — are calculated using a formula whereby the older the person, the closer the property is priced to market rates. That means that buyers can profit from earlier deaths or lose out if tenants cling on to life.
In Italy, men will live on average until 79 while women until they are 85, says Istat, the national statistics office.
Luigi Paterno, 38, couldn’t believe his luck when Grasso told him about the apartment she was marketing. Then he got cold feet because of the arrangement with the aging owner.
“Too many ifs and buts,” says Paterno, a manager at car- rental service company Avis Europe Plc. “I suddenly had a vision of me locked out of my own house and it’s just too weird thinking about moving in to a house where someone has died.”
French Tale
History provides a cautionary tale.
In 1965, French lawyer Andre-Francois Raffray was 47 when he bought 90-year-old Jeanne Calment’s apartment, expecting to move in with his family within a few years. Instead, she went on to become the oldest woman in history, dying at 122 in 1997. By then, Raffray had already been dead for two years.
“You’re betting on someone’s life and that can blow up in your face” says Iain MacPhail, a financial adviser in Edinburgh for potential U.K. buyers of Italian property.
Still, for many young Italians trying to get their foot in the property market, “nude sales” are all they can afford.
While the global economic slump has driven down the price of homes from Hong Kong to Manhattan, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Feb. 24 that Italy has no reason to fear a real- estate bubble. House prices in the country’s 13 major cities rose 4.2 percent in the first half of 2008 from a year earlier, according to Nomisma, a research institute. Between 1997 and 2007, house prices doubled.
“For estate agents it hasn’t been easy because we are sitting on a lot of property that we are having trouble selling because they are overpriced,” says Grasso. “We are focusing a lot more on nude properties because the price is right.”
Hong Kong will refund taxes, suspend property rates and boost spending on infrastructure as the economy heads for its first full-year contraction since 1998, the government said.
The city will also spend HK$1.6 billion ($206 million) on a program aimed at creating 62,000 jobs and internships, Financial Secretary John Tsang said in his budget speech today.
Gross domestic product may shrink 2 percent to 3 percent in 2009, after a 2.5 percent expansion last year, Tsang said. The Hang Seng Index of stocks pared gains on investors’ concern the government needs to do more to counter a deepening recession as the global financial crisis cuts exports and jobs.
“Given the severity of the global downturn and given the urgency other governments have displayed in stimulating their economies, this budget falls short,” said Kelvin Lau, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in Hong Kong. “It’s a conservative budget.”
The Hang Seng pared an earlier 2.7 percent gain to close 1.6 percent higher at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong.
Standard & Poor’s said that while the outlook for the government’s debt rating of AA+, the second-highest grade, remains stable, a prolonged period of economic weakness would increase the likelihood of a cut.
Hong Kong’s financial reserves, forecast by the government to be HK$448.1 billion at the end of March 2010, “will limit the damage to its fiscal profile” as the city begins posting deficits, Standard & Poor’s said after the budget announcement.
‘Disappointing Budget’
Tsang forecast a HK$4.9 billion budget deficit for the year ending March 31, climbing to HK$39.9 billion in 2009-10, and continuing for four more years.
“It’s a disappointing budget; people are going to doubt if the government has done enough,” said Guy Ellis, a tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Hong Kong. “Given the government’s fiscal reserves, they could afford to be a little braver.”
GDP fell 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 from a year earlier, the most since 1998, the Census and Statistics Department said today on its Web site, after growing 1 bad credit unsecured personal loans.7 percent in the third quarter. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had estimated a 2 percent contraction.
The economy shrank a seasonally adjusted 2 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months. That was the third straight quarter-on-quarter contraction.
Worse Than 2003
Hong Kong’s slump is deeper than during 2003 when severe acute respiratory syndrome killed 299 people in the city. Unemployment jumped by the most in a decade in the three months through January.
The government plans a 50 percent cut in salaries tax for 2008-09, with a ceiling of HK$6,000, benefiting 1.4 million taxpayers and costing about HK$4.1 billion, Tsang said. Property rates will be waived for two quarters.
Capital-works spending will be “very high,” including HK$39.3 billion in 2009-10. The government will also start a program selling government bonds.
“The government has the ability to stomach a much larger fiscal deficit for the next two years,” said Standard Chartered’s Lau. “They could run record deficits of HK$60 billion for two consecutive years without breaching fiscal prudence.”
That view was echoed on the street.
“The government is very stingy,” said Szeto Mei-sim, a 25-year-old receptionist. “What are they doing holding so much money? They should give some back to us citizens.”
Plunging Export Demand
The global financial crisis has sent export demand plunging and driven a 53 percent decline in the Hang Seng Index since the start of last year.
PCCW Ltd., Hong Kong’s largest phone company, said last week that it fired about 80 workers. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest bank by market value, announced in November that it was cutting about 450 jobs in Hong Kong. Standard Chartered Plc, a U.K. bank, said in December that it was trimming 200.
“We won’t see a recovery until exports start to stabilize, which is likely to happen in the second half of this year,” said Sean Yokota, an economist at UBS AG in Hong Kong.
The Toronto stock market fell to levels not seen in more than five years today as a fresh wave of pessimism trumped assurances from U.S. regulators on the financial system.
"There’s just a lot of fear in the air and I don’t think investors really know what to do," said Adrian Mastracci, portfolio manager at KCM Wealth Management in Vancouver.
"I think they would like to make a decision but I don’t think anybody really knows what in the world is going on and how deep this problem is."
Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite lost 302.32 points to 7,647.67, its lowest close since October 2003.
New York indexes revisited 1997 levels as investors succumbed to their growing worries about a recession that has no end in sight. The Dow Jones industrials fell 250.89 points to 7,114.78.
The index lost more than six per cent last week, partly on fears the U.S. government will move to nationalize parts of the financial sector, in particular troubled banks Citigroup and Bank of America.
The U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision and Federal Reserve issued a joint statement saying they will do all they can to shore up the struggling banking system.
The regulators also said they will launch a revamped program to inject fresh capital into financial institutions this week.
"Unless the financials stabilize, it’s going to be hard for the rest of the market to have any kind of positive momentum – even if the news is good in other places," said Kate Warne, Canadian market specialist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.
"With the focus being on the financials skating down, that tends to make everyone nervous about everything else as well."
The statement did not name any specific banks or respond to reports that the government was considering increasing its ownership of Citigroup Inc.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Citigroup is negotiating with government officials to have the U.S. boost its stake in the bank to as much as 40 per cent.
The Journal, which said Citigroup made the proposal to its regulators, noted that sources said executives would prefer to keep the government’s stake closer to 25 per cent.
In New York, Citigroup shares were still up 19 cents to US$2.14 .
The Canadian dollar was down 0.12 cent at 79.92 cents US as retail sales fell 5.4 per cent in December to $33 billion – the largest monthly decline in over 15 years.
Statistics Canada said three-quarters of the December retail decline was rooted in the automotive sector, without which retail sales fell 1 personal loans for people with bad credit.8 per cent.
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 13.96 points to 878.94.
The Nasdaq composite index declined 53.51 points to 1,387.72 while the S&P 500 index slipped 26.72 points to 743.33, falling to 1997 levels.
The TSX financial sector, which lost over 14 per cent last week, fell another 3.5 per cent today.
Canada’s big banks start to report their first-quarter earnings this week and Warne said expectations are fairly minimal.
"We certainly know the economy is slowing down faster than people expected and at this stage we’re expecting the normal buildup in reserves that comes from wherever you see an economic slowdown," Warne said.
"The best that can come out of them is no negative surprises."
Royal Bank (TSX: RY), which reports on Thursday ahead of its annual meeting in Vancouver, lost $1.25 to $25.82, while insurer Manulife Financial (TSX: MFC) moved down 59 cents to $12.53.
The energy sector was down 5.4 per cent after starting the day off positive as gains in crude prices reversed. The crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $1.59 at US$38.44 a barrel.
Canadian Natural Resources (TSX: CNQ) fell $1.72 to $36.54 and EnCana Corp. (TSX: ECA) gave back $3.49 to $44.78 .
The gold sector gave back 2.9 per cent as the April bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $7.20 to US$995 after closing above US$1,000 on Friday. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX: ABX) faded $1.40 to $44.68.
Shares in Iamgold Corp. (TSX: IMG) added cents to $ after the company said proven and probable reserves at the end of 2008 were 9.6 million ounces, an increase of 20 per cent from a year earlier.
The industrial sector was also a major drag, down 4.5 per cent, as Canadian National Railways (TSX: CNR) gave back $ .74 to $39.07 while Bombardier Inc. (TSX: BBD.B) lost 17 cents to $2.63.
Canadian investors also took in a major deal as Nova Chemicals Corp. (TSX: NCX) has agreed to be bought out for US$2.3 billion by Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Co. Nova Chemicals shares, which had hit a new low earlier this month, gained C$4.83 to $6.49 in Monday trading.
Toronto-area steel distributor Russel Metals Inc. (TSX: RUS) is cutting 500 jobs and reducing executive and white collar salaries by 10 per cent to deal with a battered steel market. Its shares dropped $1.69 to $14.45.
OTTAWA–A new study says Canada lost nearly 322,000 manufacturing jobs from 2004 to 2008, or more than one in seven.
Statistics Canada reports more than 1.5 million jobs were created in the rest of the economy during the same period.
The agency says the share of manufacturing jobs in the economy fell to 11.5 per cent in 2008 from 14.4 per cent in 2004.
The reports says employment has fallen in almost all manufacturing industries since 2004, with only a few reporting increases – notably manufacturing of transportation equipment (excluding motor vehicles and parts), petroleum and coal products, and computer and electronic products.
Almost half the jobs in textiles and clothing, long one of the largest manufacturing employers in the country, disappeared empire payday loans.
The automotive industry was also hit hard, with one in five motor vehicle and more than one in four motor vehicle parts manufacturing jobs lost from 2004 to 2008.
Ontario was hit hardest of the provinces, losing 198,600 or 18.1 per cent of manufacturing jobs.
Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Quebec, British Columbia and Nova Scotia also lost more than 10 per cent.
StatsCan says the trends are not unique to Canada, with manufacturing declining in most Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
The Canadian Press
Sirius XM Satellite Radio Inc. said Tuesday it will accept a much-needed loan from DirecTV’s parent Liberty Media Corp.
The cable giant will, in turn, get a 40 percent equity stake in the New York-based satellite radio company that was on the brink of bankruptcy.
The first part of the investment will consist of a $280-million loan, $250 million of which will be funded immediately on Tuesday to mostly repay maturing debt, according to a statement from Sirius XM.
The second part consists of a $150-million loan for its XM Satellite Radio subsidiary.
Liberty (NASDAQ: LCAPA) will also offer to buy up to $100 million in XM’s outstanding loans.
In addition, Liberty will receive seats on the board proportionate to its equity ownership 30 day payday loans. It is expected that John Malone, chairman of Liberty, and Greg Maffei, Liberty’s president and chief executive, will join Sirius’s board.
The infusion saves the satellite radio company from a Tuesday, Feb. 17, debt deadline. Missing the deadline could have caused Sirius (NASDAQ: SIRI) to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Sirius shares were up 63 percent late morning trading to 17 cents per share.
Washington, D.C.-based XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sirius XM after a $3.3 billion merger last year.
It began in late 2007 as a routine audit. Retail giant Wal-Mart noticed that some exit signs at the company’s stores and warehouses had gone missing.
As the audit spread across Wal-Mart’s U.S. operations, the mystery thickened. Stores from Arkansas to Washington began reporting missing signs. They numbered in the hundreds at first, then the thousands. Last month Wal-Mart disclosed that about 15,800 of its exit signs – a stunning 20 per cent of its total inventory – are lost, missing, or otherwise unaccounted for at 4,500 facilities in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Poor housekeeping, certainly, but what’s the big deal?
In a word: radiation.
The signs contain tritium gas, a radioactive form of hydrogen. Tritium glows when it interacts with phosphor particles, a phenomenon that has led to the creation of glow-in-the-dark emergency exit signs.
It’s estimated there are more than 2 million tritium-based exit signs in use across North America.
It turns out that Ontario-based companies SRB Technologies (Canada) Inc. of Pembroke and Shield Source Inc. of Peterborough have sold the lion’s share of these signs, which use tritium produced as a by-product from the operation of Canadian-made Candu nuclear reactors.
The health effects of tritium exposure continue to be a hot topic of debate. It’s not strong enough to penetrate the skin, and in low quantities regulators and industry groups say tritium is safe. But when inhaled or ingested it can cause permanent changes to cells and has been linked to genetic abnormalities, developmental and reproductive problems and other health issues such as cancer.
"The problem is that because it’s hydrogen it can actually become part of your body," says Shawn-Patrick Stensil of Greenpeace Canada. "The radiation doesn’t emit far, but when it actually becomes part of your cell it’s right next to your DNA. So for a pregnant woman, for example, it can be really dangerous."
General exposure from one broken sign might be the equivalent of getting up to three chest X-rays, even though today we no longer give pregnant women X-rays. If tritium is ingested, for example, by a child who breaks a sign with a hockey stick, it’s much more potent. If only 5 per cent of the tritium in a large exit sign is ingested, it would be equivalent to 208 years of natural background radiation, according to a report from the Product Stewardship Institute at the University of Massachusetts.
And what about exposure from thousands of signs dumped near a source of drinking water, or packed with explosives in the back of a truck that has been driven into a crowded building?
"I’m sure thousands of them would create a credible dirty bomb," says Norm Rubin, director of nuclear research at Energy Probe in Toronto. "Most experts think the main purpose of a dirty bomb is to cause panic, disruption and expensive cleanup rather than lots of dead bodies. A bunch of tritium, especially if oxidized in an explosion, would probably do that job fine instant payday loan."
Tritium is also a component in nuclear warheads. In 2005, SRB Technologies got permission from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to export 70,000 of its tritium exit signs to Iran. Foreign Affairs Canada blasted the regulator for allowing shipment to a country that’s attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction. The shipment went through.
South of the border, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission appears more concerned with tritium contamination of landfills and the threat of leaching into drinking water. The agency regulates the use of tritium devices, requiring the reporting of lost, stolen or broken property and proper cleanup and disposal.
"Throughout the whole process we stayed in very close contact with the NRC and received their guidance," said Wal-Mart spokesperson Daphne Davis Moore. "We no longer use these signs in our stores."
Wal-Mart’s poor recordkeeping was a wake-up call for the nuclear agency, which in January sternly reminded users of the signs of their regulatory obligations. At the same time, it assured the public there’s nothing to worry about.
Still, the agency was concerned enough to demand that any organization possessing 500 or more tritium exit signs conduct audits and report their findings within 60 days. The list included Home Depot, AMC Theatres and a number of universities and schools.
Wal-Mart Canada says it has a few tritium exit signs in most of its stores. "We’ve gone back over our records and have not found any reason for concern," said spokesperson Kevin Groh. "We are doing an audit to get an accurate inventory." The difference, in Canada, is they don’t have to do it. Users of the signs are not licensed in Canada as long as the product is properly marked as radioactive, according to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. This makes it difficult to determine exactly how many tritium signs exist in Canada and where they end up.
Stensil of Greenpeace said it’s a strange way for a government to treat a radioactive device, but he’s not surprised. He said the federal government has always had lax rules when it comes to tritium, partly because Canada, through its Candu nuclear plants, is one of the biggest producers of the substance in the world.
Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg, who teaches environmental health at the University of Toronto, said there’s a double standard in Canada when it comes to regulating tritium. Permissible levels in drinking water here are 100 times greater than in Europe and more than 400 times greater than in California.
She was shocked when told about the 15,800 missing tritium signs at Wal-Mart, but even more surprised to learn that use of such signs isn’t tracked or monitored in Canada.
"Most people haven’t even heard of tritium," she lamented.
Anyone who has checked a career counseling site is numbingly aware of the plethora of lists intended to illuminate applicants on job interview preparation and etiquette.
Now, courtesy of the Toronto Star, add another to the list: Should someone stab you or if you have otherwise incurred an injury serious enough to cause unstanched bleeding in the hours leading up to the interview, it is perfectly acceptable to cancel your appointment.
Credit a 16-year-old job hopeful in Toronto for raising the, um, red flag.
The Star reports that the teen, stabbed during an incident at his high school one morning last week, nonetheless showed up right on time for a 1 p.m. interview with a Toronto veterinary clinic.
The appointment ended abruptly when a clinic employee noticed blood gushing onto the leg of the applicant’s pants and made arrangements to have the student taken to a local hospital where, according to the Star, he was treated for minor injuries no credit check payday loan.
"He did really well on the interview, and we were very proud of him for sticking to the appointment," veterinarian Kent Ackerman told the Star.
Ackerman, the paper said, declined to say whether the clinic offered the student a job.
sgiegerich@post-dispatch.com
314-340-8172
WASHINGTON – The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an agreement with disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff that could eventually force him to pay a civil fine and return money raised from investors.
The partial judgment must be approved by the judge overseeing the Madoff case in federal court in Manhattan.
The civil proceeding is separate from the criminal case against the prominent Wall Street figure, who is accused of bilking $50 billion from investors in what may be the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Madoff was arrested in December after allegedly confessing to his sons that he had stolen from investors for years.
Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to revoke the bail of Madoff, who has been confined to his Manhattan penthouse under house arrest. Madoff, who has not been indicted, is widely expected to eventually enter into a criminal plea deal with prosecutors.
The agreement with the SEC says the agency’s civil fraud allegations cannot be contested by Madoff and that possible civil fines and restitution will be decided "at a later time."
The allegations, as laid out in the SEC’s civil lawsuit filed Dec. 11, are that Madoff committed a $50 billion fraud and told his sons his investment business was a sham. Madoff told them he had “absolutely nothing," that "it’s all just one big lie," and was “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme," according to the SEC suit low interest payday loans.
The fallout from the Madoff affair has been massive and has rocked a Wall Street already churning from the financial crisis. Thousands of victims who lost money investing with Madoff have been identified – including ordinary people and Hollywood celebrities – as well as big hedge funds, international banks and charities in the United States, Europe and Asia.
The scandal also has brought disgrace to the SEC, which repeatedly ignored credible allegations about Madoff’s operations brought to it over the course of decade. Congress and the agency’s inspector general are investigating what caused the regulatory failure over Madoff and why SEC inspections of his business failed to detect the improprieties.
Meanwhile, the SEC has announced the resignation of its enforcement director.
It said Linda Thomsen is leaving to pursue opportunities in the private sector, but did not provide further details. She has been with the agency since May 2005.
Thomsen became a lightning rod for criticism over the SEC’s failure to detect the Madoff fraud, despite red flags raised to the agency staff by outsiders over the course of a decade.
The Bank of England said it may start buying commercial paper next week through its asset purchase facility in measures to improve companies’ access to credit as interest rates approach zero.
The central bank said that from Feb. 13 it expects to acquire debt of companies that make a “material contribution to economic activity in the United Kingdom,” according to a statement today. It may also buy paper of U.K. companies with foreign parents, or of non-bank financial companies.
“The facility may operate for as long as the highly abnormal conditions in corporate credit markets persist and materially impair the financing of real economic activity,” the bank said. Officials are also considering buying corporate bonds in the secondary market, the statement said.
The announcement marks a shift away from the central bank’s conventional use of monetary policy after it cut the benchmark interest rate to a record low of 1 percent yesterday. Britain’s economy may shrink the most since the end of World War II this year as financial institutions ration credit to rebuild their balance sheets.
The bank said that commercial paper issued by non-financial companies will be eligible in principle if it is satisfied that they make a significant contribution to U flexcheck cash advance.K. corporate financing. Paper issued by leveraged investment vehicles won’t qualify. Companies will be eligible to use the facility even if they haven’t issued commercial paper yet.
Buying Power
The U.K. government last week gave the central bank authority to spend 50 billion pounds ($73 billion) on bonds and commercial paper. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling directed Bank of England Governor Mervyn King to buy “high quality” securities.
The policy marks a first step toward so-called quantitative easing, raising the money supply to reduce its cost and prevent a downward spiral in the economy.
Commercial paper must have a minimum rating of at least A-3 at Moody’s Investors Service, P-3 at Standard & Poor’s or F-3 from Fitch. The bank is also consulting on buying corporate bonds in the secondary market.
The bank said it will buy from dealers in the primary market for commercial paper and may also buy it from holders of securities in the secondary market.
Japan’s Sharp Corp is expected to post an annual operating loss of more than 10 billion yen ($112 million), its first ever full-year loss, due to slow sales and steep price falls, the Nikkei business daily said.
But Sharp’s shares price shrugged off the report and outperformed the broader market.
“This hardly comes as a surprise after companies like Sony and Hitachi have projected huge losses,” said Mizuho Asset Management fund manager Yoshihisa Okamoto.
Hit by a firmer yen, anemic demand and mounting costs of plant closures and other restructuring steps, Sony Corp now expects an annual operating loss of 260 billion yen, while Hitachi Ltd projects a record 700 billion yen net loss.
The Nikkei said Sharp’s annual earnings will also be hit by its plan to reduce TV and display panel inventories by the end of the business year, and Mizuho’s Okamoto said investors seem to have taken this as a positive step that could boost its profitability in the new business year from April 1.
Sharp is the world’s No.3 maker of LCD TVs behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Sony Corp.
The maker of Aquos brand LCD TVs is likely to post an operating loss in excess of 10 billion yen for the year to March 31, the Nikkei said. That compares with the consensus for a 45.4 billion yen profit in a poll of 21 analysts by Reuters Estimates.
Sharp had forecast an operating profit of 195 billion yen at the start of the financial year, which it cut to 130 billion yen in October as cellphone sales weakened cash advance loan. It reported an operating profit of 183.7 billion yen for the previous business year.
The company said any revision to its full-year outlook will be announced on Friday, when it unveils its quarterly results.
Sharp is expected to log a net loss of almost 100 billion yen, the Nikkei said without citing sources — far from the 60 billion yen net profit it had projected in October.
In the previous financial year, it posted a net profit of 101.9 billion yen.
Besides sluggish demand and price declines, Sharp has also been hurt by the shrinking value of its 14.3 stake in electronics maker Pioneer Corp and a $120 million fine for its participation in a price-fixing cartel for LCD panels.
The company said in December it would likely book an extraordinary loss of 43.2 billion yen largely due to the fall in value of its stake in Pioneer.
Shares in Sharp were up 4.5 percent at 692 yen in late afternoon trade, while the benchmark Nikkei average .N225 gained 2.6 percent.
(Reporting by Ted Kerr and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Michael Watson)
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