Finance

Home page

Finance

Sony Corp. stuck in red

30 July 2009 11:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku -APA-Economics. Sony Corp. said Thursday a slide in consumer spending, the strong yen and hefty restructuring costs pummeled it into a net loss for the first fiscal quarter ended June.
Sony, the home of the Walkman music player and Playstation video game system, said that it made a net loss of Y37.1 billion in the quarter compared with a net profit of Y35.0 billion in the same period a year earlier.
That better than a consensus forecast of a Y109.6 billion net loss compiled by Thomson Reuters from 16 analysts’ forecasts. But Sony said it still expects losses in the current fiscal year to be worse that last year’s as it continues to restructure unprofitable businesses like its TV operations to cope with the downturn that’s hit a slew of Japan’s technology companies
Sony is predicting a net loss of Y120 billion for the fiscal year through March 2010, compared with a net loss of Y98.9 billion last time.
As all operations bar its movie studio, music business and financial services division lost money, Sony said total revenue fell 19% to Y1.60 trillion from Y1.98 trillion in the same period a year earlier. At the operating level, Sony sank to a loss of Y25.7 billion, compared with a profit of Y73.4 billion last time.
As the company seeks to cut billions of dollars in costs, Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer is pushing through a turnaround program involving the loss of some 16,000 jobs. In the first quarter, Sony booked restructuring costs of Y33.9 billion, compared with just Y0.6 billion a year earlier. For the 12 months through March 210, it expects restructuring charges of Y110 billion.
Separately, Sony said it will invest Y10 billion in joint venture with Japan’s Sharp Corp. (6753.TO) to produce large liquid crystal display panels and modules.
Sony’s earnings based on U.S. accounting standards. Source: Dow Jones Newswires