Sony’s loss grows, firm cuts earnings forecasts

TOKYO - The Associated Press

Sony’s red ink worsened in the April-June quarter and it lowered its full-year earnings forecast as it battles a strong yen and declining sales of liquid crystal display TVs and video game machines.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment company yesterday reported a quarterly loss of 24.6 billion yen ($316 million) compared with a 15.5 billion yen loss a year earlier.

Sales edged up 1.4 percent to 1.52 trillion yen ($19.4 billion), helped by cameras, professional broadcasting products and mobile phones.

Tokyo-based Sony Corp. lowered its earnings forecast for the business year through March 2013 to a 20 billion yen ($256 million) profit, down from 30 billion yen projected in May, citing uncertainty in foreign exchange rates and global demand.

The company said it was hurt in the April-June quarter by a strong yen, which erodes overseas earnings, and by declining sales of liquid-crystal display TVs and video game machines.

It also got hit by a 20 billion yen additional income tax expense, had 11.3 billion yen in restructuring charges for the quarter, and invested heavily in image sensor production.

Sony posted a 456.6 billion yen ($5.8 billion) loss in its last business year. That was the fourth straight year of losses and the biggest loss in the 66-year history of the maker of the PlayStation game machines, “Spider-Man” movies and the Walkman portable.