Japanese-based Sony has slashed its full-year profit forecast by 40 per cent. We answer five questions on the electronic giants profit falling predictions.
What’s Sony’s revised forecast for its profits?
The company is now anticipating to make a net profit of 30bn yen ($305; £190m) in the financial year to 31 March 2014.
This is down from earlier estimates of 50bn yen.
Why has Sony downgraded is profit estimates?
In the July-to-September quarter Sony’s loss widened from 25 per cent from a year ago to 19.3bn yen.
Its Pictures division was a key factor; it made a considerable loss due to some high profile failures. This particular division which includes movie production and TV shows, recorded an operating loss of 17.8bn yen during the period. This is compared to an operating profit of 7.9bn a year earlier.
What has Sony said about its revised forecasts?
“The current quarter reflects the theatrical underperformance of White House Down, while the previous fiscal year included the strong theatrical performance of the Amazing Spider-Man,” the firm said in a statement.
What other problems has Sony had?
Things such as a decline in television licensing revenue due to fewer movies being licensed year-on-year, increased competition and slowing global demand for TVs and a decline in TV prices have all had a detrimental effect on the company.
Sony’s TV division posted an operating loss of 9.3bn yen for the three months to the end of September.
The firm said that the division’s earnings were hurt after it cut the price of its PlayStation Vita consoles.
Its Game division made an operating loss of 800m yen during the period, compared to an operating profit of 2.3bn yen during the same quarter last year.
What about Sony’s competitors – how are they doing?
Sharp and Panasonic reported profits for the July-to-September quarter.
Panasonic reported a net profit of 61.5bn yen for the period, reversing a loss of 698bn yen during the same period a year ago.
Sharp reported a net profit of 13.6bn yen for the quarter, reversing a loss of 17.9bn yen in the previous three months.
It also raised its full-year profit forecast to 270bn yen in the current financial year, up from its earlier projection of 250bn yen.
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