Sony Posts $342 Million Operating Profit, but CE Sales Fall 20 Percent

Sony this fiscal year plans to “aggressively launch 3D-related products, network services and other new businesses with the aim of future growth,” the company said Thursday in reporting results for the year ended March 31 in which it swung to a $342 million operating profit from a year-earlier loss ($1=93 yen, the rate in effect March 31). However, sales fell 6.7 percent to $77.6 billion on a 19.9 percent decline in Sony’s core CE sector, now called Consumer Products and Devices.

In that sector, Sony incurred a $500 million operating loss that narrowed by 60 percent from a year earlier. Still, sales in the sector fell 19.9 percent to $34.7 billion due in part to a decline in average selling prices of Bravia LCD TVs. However, Sony expects “a significant increase in sales” in the sector this year on “expected improved performance in the television business as a result of a significant increase in unit sales and ongoing structural transformation initiatives resulting in cost reductions,” the company said.

For the year, all product categories within the sector suffered double-digit sales declines, except for semiconductors, which jumped 4 percent to $3 billion. But sales in Sony’s TV business fell 21.2 percent to $10.8 billion and digital imaging fell 21.4 percent to $7.3 billion. Despite Blu-ray, which Sony barely mentioned in the 32-page report, sales in the sector’s audio and video products group fell 15.5 percent to $5.1 billion.

In Networked Products and Services, which includes games and Vaio PCs, sales fell 10.2 percent to $16.9 billion on lower unit sales of PSP hardware and PS2 software. Sony sold 13 million PS3 consoles during the year, a 29 percent increase from the 10.1 million it sold a year earlier. But PSP units fell 30 percent to 9.9 million and PS2 units fell 8 percent to 7.3 million. Sony expects that an improvement in the game business this year will help the sector cut its operating loss from the $893 million shortfall it recorded in the year just ended.