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.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique