Restructuring costs force Sony to forecast loss for year
Electronics giant surprises market, scrapping profit forecast after shaking up TV, PC units
Sony unexpectedly forecast a 110 billion yen (HK$8.4 billion) loss for the fiscal year ending March yesterday, scrapping its previously revised projection of a 30 billion yen profit.
It also said it would cut 5,000 more jobs as chief executive Kazuo Hirai widened his restructuring plan in the face of shrinking demand for televisions and computers.
Sony is selling its personal computer business and splitting its television division into a separate, wholly owned unit after saying it will lose money for a 10th consecutive year.
Declining sales of key products are hampering Hirai's revival efforts as the firm struggles to find new hits that will attract consumers shifting to mobile devices from Apple and Samsung Electronics. Hirai has already failed to meet his pledge to end television losses after cutting at least 10,000 jobs and focusing the company on mobile devices, games and imaging products.
"Hirai lacks aggressiveness," said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute. "Sony needs to produce a new field for growth to increase its value."
Operating income would be 80 billion yen this year, less than half of the 170 billion yen forecast in October last year, while the sales projection was unchanged at 7.7 trillion yen, Sony said.