Panasonic and Sharp suffer losses

Japan's Sharp has issued a warning about its future saying that it has found it tough to raise money amid mounting losses.

It issued the warning as it forecast a loss of 450bn yen (5.6bn; £3.5bn) for the year to 31 March 2013.

Sharp's troubles are not isolated. Most of the big Japanese electronics giants have seen their fortunes tumble in recent times.

On Wednesday, Panasonic said that it now expected to make a loss of 765bn yen in the current financial year. It had previously forecast a profit of 50bn yen.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports.