Sony reported a smaller-than-expected ¥26.3 billion (US$289 million) loss for the July-September quarter as healthy sales of PlayStation 3 game consoles and Michael Jackson hits put it on track for a gradual recovery.
Tokyo-based Sony Corp said yesterday it now expects a smaller flow of red ink for the full fiscal year through March.
It forecasting a ¥95 billion (US$1 billion) loss compared with the initial projection for a ¥120 billion (US$1.3 billion) loss.
The new forecast is marginally better than the ¥98.9 billion loss it suffered the previous fiscal year.
Sony said it managed to turn a quarterly profit in its core electronics and device business. But Sony acknowledged its liquid crystal display TVs and game machine computer chip businesses continued to be hurt by intensifying price competition.
Even the perk Sony got from nostalgic demand for Jackson albums following his death in June wasn’t enough to offset the losses in its other divisions.
The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant said a strong yen, which diminishes the overseas earnings of Japanese exporters, erased ¥77 billion (US$846 million) from its quarterly operating profit.
The strong yen hurt Sony overall, including its gaming business despite stronger sales of the PlayStation 3, which got a lift from a recent price cut. Sony sold 3.2 million PlayStation 3 machines around the world during the latest quarter, compared with 2.4 million the same period the previous year.
Meanwhile, Toshiba Corp managed to eke out a small net profit in the July-September quarter on cost-cutting and higher sales of memory chips.
The Japanese electronics company reported a net profit of ¥100 million (US$1.1 million) for the fiscal second quarter, up from a net loss of ¥26.9 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Quarterly sales fell to ¥1.616 trillion from ¥1.877 trillion a year earlier.
Toshiba left its forecast for the full year at a net loss of ¥50 billion.
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