Revs angelic for Sony Pix
17% rise to $15.4 bil; sour note from music unit
Sony Corp. said Friday that net income plunged 86% for the fiscal year ended in March to $134 million. Revenue rose 9.4% to $58.5 billion.
Accounting regs adopted last year eroded net income by $228 million, plus another hit from an $813 million one-time charge. Sony also cited other accounting shifts and a $356 million charge from equity losses in affiliated companies.
For the quarter, revenue at the electronics behemoth rose 17% to $15.4 billion and operating losses narrowed sharply to $25 million.
Sony Pictures revenue for the year rose 12% to $4.4 billion. Operating income plunged 88% to $35 million, but execs said income without the new accounting rules only fell 15% and most of that was due to softness in syndication sales.
Quarterly revenue rose 29% to $1.5 billion and operating income jumped 17% to $156 million. The regs, which call for advertising and marketing costs to be expensed as incurred, chopped off $25 million. Without them, income rose 20%.
Higher sales for the year came from a strong box office tilted heavily toward the second half and lively DVD sales. Pics included "Charlie's Angels," "The Wedding Planner," "Vertical Limit" and the award-laden "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Aside from syndication, Sony noted fewer sales of network TV series episodes and investments in new online businesses and digital entertainment initiatives.
This year's slate includes "A Knight's Tale," "America's Sweethearts" from Joe Roth's Revolution Studios, "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" and "Ali."
Execs also pointed out that the bulk of a $333 million gain on investment reported at the parent company level came from Sony Pictures' sale of 50% of the Game Show Network to Liberty Digital.
Sour note
At Sony Music, annual revenue fell 13% to $4.9 billion and operating income dropped 27% to $164 million. Quarterly music revenue was about flat at $1.2 billion and swung to an operating profit of $69 million.
Company attributed the full-year shortfall to a host of ills, from spending on various digital media projects to closing down a big cassette tape plant in the U.S., softness in a number of international markets, delayed timing of new releases and a stronger U.S. dollar.
Top sellers included Sade's "Lovers Rock," Ricky Martin's "Sound Loaded" and Jennifer Lopez's "J. Lo" plus carryover success for Destiny's Child's "Writing on the Wall." Sony expects higher sales and lower costs to boost its music numbers in fiscal 2002. The unit laid off 10% of its worldwide workforce last year.
At Sony's other businesses:
- Electronics, the biggest piece by far of the Sony pie, saw revenue rise 17% for the year and the quarter to $44 billion and $10 billion, respectively.
Operating income for the year surged 145% to nearly $2 billion, although the division lost $71 million in the last quarter.
- At Games, revenue was about flat at $5.3 billion for the year and rose 25% for the quarter to $1.5 billion. The unit posted losses of $409 million for the year and $130 million for the quarter.
Sony shares rose 1.8% to $76.45 on Friday.
