Sony Downgrades TV Sales Forecast for Fiscal Year After Units Plunged 23% in Q1  

Significant fiscal Q1 unit-sales declines in TVs and smartphones prompted Sony Tuesday to downgrade its April sales forecast in its core consumer tech sector by 80 billion yen ($736.5 million) for the fiscal year ending March 31. Sony now expects sales in its Electronics Products and Solutions business to reach 2.16 trillion yen ($19.9 billion) for the year, a 7 percent decline from the previous 12 months. The segment is expected to finish the year with an operating profit of 121 billion yen ($1.1 billion), unchanged from the April forecast and a 58 percent improvement from a year earlier. Sony sold 2 million TVs in Q1 ended June 30, a 23 percent decline from the same year-earlier quarter. It now expects to sell 10.5 million TVs for the year, 500,000 fewer than in its April forecast. That would be a 7 percent decline from the year ended March 31 and a 15 percent decline in the fiscal 12 months ended March 2018. “Thanks to actions we have taken” in the TV business, “such as the launch of new products and price reductions, sales have recovered since June,” said Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki on an earnings call Tuesday. “We continue to pay close attention to changes in the market for panels and the trends for competitive pricing.” Sony sold 900,000 smartphones in Q1, 55 percent fewer than in Q1 a year earlier. It downgraded its April forecast for the year by a million units to 4 million.