Sony to return to black on net level for 1st time in 3 years

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TOKYO, May 13 Kyodo -
Sony Corp. said Thursday it will swing back into the black on a net level for
the first time in three years in fiscal 2010, aided by cost-cutting measures
and an anticipated rise in demand for televisions.
For the current fiscal year through next March, Sony said it expects a group
net profit of 50 billion yen, a turnaround from a loss of 40.80 billion yen for
fiscal 2009. It also expects an operating profit of 160 billion yen, more than
five times larger than the fiscal 2009 profit, on sales of 7.6 trillion yen, up
5.4 percent.
''We expect a sharp increase in revenue thanks to a large increase in TV sales
and continued cost-reduction efforts,'' Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda
said in a news conference.
Sony, which builds Bravia liquid crystal display TVs, Vaio personal computers,
and PlayStation game consoles, plans to sell 2.5 million LCD TVs in the current
fiscal year. This will mark an increase from 1.56 million units sold in fiscal
2009.
Oneda said he believes this target is feasible, with robust sales anticipated
more in emerging economies including China than the markets in the United
States and Europe.
Sony also anticipates its gaming and mobile phone businesses will return to
profitability.
After succeeding in achieving cost reductions of more than its annual target of
330 billion yen, Sony intends to continue taking measures to cut costs, Oneda
said.
The electronics giant joined its peers in churning out improved fiscal 2009
earnings.
Sony said cost-cutting efforts, coupled with improved sales in its TVs and
other consumer electronics products, helped the company post a group operating
profit of 31.77 billion yen for the business year ended in March, against its
biggest-ever group operating loss of 227.78 billion yen logged in fiscal 2008.
In another sign of optimism, Sony also narrowed its fiscal 2009 group net loss
to 40.80 billion yen from the previous year's 98.94 billion yen, on sales of
7.21 trillion yen, down 6.7 percent.
Looking ahead, Oneda said Sony will be making great efforts to boost its
business in the increasingly popular area of 3-D TVs and related products. Sony
is set to sell 3-D TVs in Japan from June amid a competitive market led by
South Korean rivals.
The firm said it also hopes to see better sales for its PlayStation 3 console,
eyeing sales of 1.5 million units in fiscal 2010, an increase of around 200,000
units from the previous business year.
The electronics maker also sees making profits with its PCs and e-reader, with
Oneda appearing unfazed by its e-reader's increasingly popular competitor,
Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet computer, which goes on sale in Japan later this
month.
While the outlook for the company was generally bright, Oneda said that Sony,
which has extensive business in Europe, will likely be affected by Greece's
debt crisis should this lead to the deterioration of the European economy.
Ahead of its earnings report, Sony shares closed Thursday's trading with a rise
of more than 4 percent to 3,165 yen.
==Kyodo
2010-05-13 23:32:02