Japanese electronics giant Sony said yesterday it expects to return to profit in the current financial year on the back of tough restructuring measures and a pick-up in demand.
The maker of Bravia TVs, PlayStation game consoles and Cyber-shot cameras forecast a profit of ¥50 billion (US$535.5 million) in the year ending in March next year as it looks to aggressively launch 3D televisions and related products.
For the financial year just ended, the company reported an operating profit of ¥31.8 billion yen compared to a loss of ¥227.8 billion the previous year, which was its biggest ever. Sony announced its second consecutive annual loss of ¥40.8 billion for the past year, narrowing from a loss of ¥98.9 billion previously.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The electronics giant has been forced to undergo major restructuring — slashing 20,000 jobs, selling facilities and turning to suppliers for parts — after seeing losses pile up as the financial crisis hit demand.
However, the three months to March saw losses narrow to ¥56.6 billion from ¥165.1 billion a year earlier, indicating that major restructuring combined with a reviving market are steering Sony back towards health. Sony chief financial officer Nobuyuki Oneda told reporters that restructuring would continue this year, while the electronics giant forecast its TV, games and cell phone joint venture Sony Ericsson to return to profit.
Oneda said Sony hoped to sell about 25 million TV sets in the current year, an increase of around 10 million units from the previous year.
He said, however, that Sony was wary of the eurozone debt crisis, as Europe accounts for 25 percent of global sales. The company has had a difficult few years in the face of tough competition from rival products such as Apple’s iPod and Nintendo’s Wii. However, sales of its Playstation 3 console rose on-year and are expected to climb in the current financial year. Osamu Hirose, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Centre, said Sony was on its way to a V-shaped recovery from its earlier slump.
“Sony is planning to start selling 3D televisions in June, which will be one of the factors helping the company regain its footing,” Hirose said.
In doing so the company will join rivals such as Sharp and Samsung Electronics in a sector the industry hopes will help revive profits, as strong competition and falling prices force a re-evaluation of the LCD business.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS