Sony suffered a 15 per cent fall in third-quarter profits after heavy losses at its games unit offset strong pre-Christmas sales at its core electronics business.
But Sony raised its earnings forecasts for the full year. The strong showing in electronics persuaded some analysts that Sony may have finally begun its turnaround.
However, it gave no solace to video game fans hoping for price cuts to the PlayStation3 (PS3) console, which Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony's chief financial officer, said would remain at its current price of Y59,900 (€380) for "two or three years".
On a consolidated basis, Sony posted quarterly operating income of Y178.9 billion, a year on year drop of 14.9 per cent.
Electronics sales in the October to December quarter were driven by particularly strong performance for Bravia televisions, which have established a foothold in the $63 billion (€48.6 billion) global market for LCD TVs. A large contribution also came from sales of digital cameras and video cameras, which achieved profit margins of more than 20 per cent. The group raised its full-year operating income forecast by Y10 billion to Y60 billion.
An analyst described the forecast as "ridiculously conservative" in light of the favourable currency environment and Sony's announcement of lower restructuring costs. The forecast included a Y51.2 billion provision for expenses arising from its massive recall of laptop PC batteries last autumn. However, larger than expected losses at Sony Computer Entertainment, the division that produces the PS3 console, left other analysts sceptical.
Quarterly operating losses of Y54 billion at the games division reflect the high development cost of the machine, which is already being discounted by some Japanese retailers because of sluggish sales.
In light of PS3 sales that analysts said "appear to fall wide of the company's shipment targets", Sony may have to revise its global shipment forecast of six million units by the end of March.
