Sony has had the outlook on its long-term corporate credit ratings put under negative review by Standard & Poor's today.
The investment ratings agency said it put the outlook on Sony, which stunned investors and analysts with a steep drop in first-quarter earnings, and related entities Sony Capital Corp and Sony Europe Finance PLC to negative from stable.
At the same time, S&P confirmed its single A plus long-term and A1 short-term ratings on the companies.
The outlook revision reflects concerns that ongoing weakness in the global electronics market could prevent Sony from meeting its profit targets, S&P said.
BNP Paribas analyst Mr Masayuki Yonezawa said: "Electronic companies' earnings have become steadily worse this year, but Sony had been holding up well. But the first-quarter result was quite a surprise and that has been seen in its weak stock price.
Sony shares edged higher on Monday by 1.61 per cent to 5,690 yen, slightly outpacing the broader market where the Nikkei 225 average gained 0.97 per cent.
The outlook for the financial year to March 2002 was revised to a group operating profit of 250 billion yen from an April forecast of 300 billion yen.
Sony's profitability in the electronics segment has deteriorated over the past few months, especially in digital and communications products such as mobile phones, components, displays and semiconductors, S&P said.