Sony posted a 15 per cent fall in quarterly operating profit today after large losses at its game unit offset robust sales of flat TVs.
For October-December, operating profit came to 178.91 billion yen, down from 210.35 billion yen a year earlier. Sales rose 9.8 per cent to 2.61 trillion yen, and net profit fell 5.3 per cent to 159.92 billion yen.
The sharp profit slide in the just-ended quarter was expected as the Tokyo-based company had said losses at its game unit would balloon to about 200 billion yen for the year to March.
Sony enjoyed brisk demand for its Bravia flat panel televisions as well as for Cyber-shot digital cameras and Handycam camcorders.
But gains in its mainstay electronics division were cancelled out by hefty losses at its game unit, which was weighed down by heavy start-up costs for its new PlayStation 3 game console and sluggish demand for Playstation Portable handheld gear.
Besides losses related to the PS3, which went on sale in November to compete head on with Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii, recalls of 9.6 million Sony-made PC batteries hurt its full-year profits.
Nevertheless, Sony raised its operating profit forecast to 60 billion yen from 50 billion yen for the full year to March.
Its annual net profit forecast was raised to 110 billion yen from 80 billion yen. That would still be down from a 168.9 billion yen profit a year ago.