Sony posted a surprisingly small rise in quarterly operating profit and cut its annual forecast by 9 per cent today.
Sony enjoyed robust holiday demand for its Cyber-shot digital cameras, Handycam camcorders and Vaio personal computers, and managed to return its game division back to profitability by cutting PlayStation 3 production costs and boosting sales of its portable game machine.
But it lowered its forecast for operating profit in the year to March to 410 billion yen from 450 billion yen, citing the rising yen and the declining stock market, which has cut into the value of investments held by its life insurance unit.
Sony, which vies with Samsung Electronics and Sharp in flat TVs, has shed 10,000 jobs and a wide range of non-core assets over the past few years.
But tumbling prices of LCD TVs and other key products have cut into its earnings. Sony's core electronics division saw its operating income fall 7 per cent in the October-December quarter, also hurt by lower sales of semiconductors to the game division.