Sony Corp posted a wider quarterly loss on Wednesday due to deficits in its PlayStation game unit, but forecast a sharp rise in annual profit on strong sales of flat-screen TVs and digital cameras.
The Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate was hit hard last year by massive costs to launch its PlayStation 3 (PS3) game machine, and to recall 9.6 million units of its laptop PC batteries, which in rare cases could catch fire from overheating.
But its core electronics division saw its profits improve thanks to a weak yen boosting global sales of its electronics products such as its flagship Bravia TVs and Cyber-shot cameras. Sony's next challenge would be to win back market share in Nintendo Co Ltd and Microsoft Corp in the $30 billion video game industry.
Sony forecast operating profit of 440 billion yen ($3.66 billion) for the year to March 2008, a six-fold gain from 2006/7. That beats the consensus of 377.8 billion yen in a poll of 20 analysts by Reuters Estimates, though it includes a 59 billion yen profit from a sale of land not likely reflected in the consensus. Sony expects sales to rise 5.8 percent to 8.78 trillion yen.
The earnings outlook also matched an earlier promise made by Howard Stringer, Sony's first non-Japanese chief executive, of achieving 5 percent operating profit margin in 2007/8.
For January-March, the fourth quarter of the past business year, Sony booked an operating loss of 113.4 billion yen, against a loss of 51.9 billion yen a year earlier and the consensus of a 94.5 billion yen loss according to five analysts.
Operating profit at Sony came to 71.75 billion yen in the year ended March 31, down from 226.42 billion yen last year. Sales rose 10.5 percent to 8.295 trillion yen, boosted by the strong performance by Sony Ericsson, the world's fourth-largest mobile phone maker owned jointly by Sony and Ericsson.
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