Sharp Corporation is the next casualty to suffer at the hands of the global financial crisis, expecting to see its first loss in over 5 decades.

For the financial year ending March 31 2009, Sharp are expecting a loss of $1.1 billion and are planning on cutting 1,500 jobs.

In what has been a dramatic couple of weeks for the consumer electronics industry, Sharp is just another one to add to the list of companies bearing the full force of a dramatic decrease in consumer spending throughout the world as recessions hit.

As well as this the recent reorganisation of its LCD plants is having an effect, not to mention the fines imposed for price fixing allegations, mentioned last week on Current.com.au.

But the biggest factor that Sharp has claimed contributed to their loss, was in terms of LCD sales, which Sharp claim will fall 10 per cent this fiscal year.

“The decline in LCD-TV prices were so steep that it pushed our business into the red, and was so sharp that our cost-cutting efforts couldn’t keep pace,” Tetsuo Onishi, a Sharp director in charge of finance and accounting, told reporters in Tokyo.

This loss is expected to be a first for the company, ever since its shares were listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1956.

To further add to their woes, Sharp will also have to deal with the news that Pioneer Corporation, of which Sharp is their largest shareholder with 14.3 per cent, has reported an 84 per cent decline in shares over 2008.