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Sony posts wider 1st-half net loss on mobile business slump
[October 31, 2014]

Sony posts wider 1st-half net loss on mobile business slump


(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sony Corp. on Friday reported a far wider first-half group net loss, as its struggling mobile phone business bit into the bottom line.

The beleaguered Japanese electronics giant posted a net loss of 109.16 billion yen for the six months to Sept. 30, compared to a loss of 16.50 billion yen in the same period last year.

It logged a group operating loss of 15.77 billion yen, compared to a profit of 49.43 billion yen a year earlier, on sales of 3.71 trillion yen, up 6.5 percent.

Sony follows major rival Samsung Electronics Co. in reporting dire results due to stiffer competition in the smartphone business. Samsung Thursday said its operating profit dropped 60 percent in the July-September quarter from a year earlier.



Sony's latest earnings underscore its protracted slump in stark contrast to the turnarounds at local peers Panasonic Corp. and Sharp Corp. in the past business year.

Sony, which once led the global electronics industry with innovative products like the Walkman portable music player, is in the midst of restructuring, reducing labor costs through job cuts, pulling out of the flagging personal computer business and spinning off the TV business.


Among other revamp steps, the company will also drastically scale back its smartphone operations in China, Sony Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida said at a press conference.

Banking on all these efforts, Sony looks to hit a lofty target of posting an operating profit of 400 billion yen next fiscal year.

Sony kept intact its forecast for the current year after it revised down the outlook last month due to an asset impairment charge of about 180 billion yen to reform its smartphone business hurt by harsh competition with price-competitive Chinese rivals.

Chinese competition prompted Sony to cut its smartphone sales outlook by 2 million units to 41 million this year.

Sony projects a group net loss of 230 billion yen and an operating loss of 40 billion yen for the current year through next March. Sales are projected at 7.80 trillion yen. Sony will forgo a dividend for the first time since it was listed in 1958.

Last year, it posted a group net loss of 128.37 billion yen, operating profit of 26.50 billion yen and sales of 7.77 trillion yen.

(c) 2014 Kyodo News

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