Sony net profit falls 95% in Q3
Strong yen drags down earnings
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Sony announced Thursday a net profit of ¥10.4 billion ($115.6 million) for the October-December 2008 period, down from$2.22 billion the same period the previous year.
Meanwhile, the third-quarter operating loss totaled $199 million, compared with an operating profit of $2.62 billion in the third quarter of the 2007 financial year.
Sony Pictures had a 6% increase in operating net on a U.S. dollar basis, but currency issues dragged it down to an 8% drop.
Revenue at Sony Pictures fell 22% to $1.9 billion despite a strong showing by James Bond installment "Quantum of Solace" as well as ancillary play for "Hancock" and "Step Brothers." The year-earlier quarter made for tough comparisons given the homevid release of "Spider-Man 3."
The electronics division, once a reliable cash cow even when other areas of the company were faltering, suffered an operating loss of $176.7 million as holiday sales of Bravia TVs and other once-hot products failed to live up to expectations. A year ago, the division reported a $2.23 billion profit.
The games division reported a 97% drop in operating profit, to $4.4 million. Sales of PlayStation 3 software gained 14.8 million units year-to-year to 40.8 million, but sales of PS2 and PSP software declined.
Meanwhile, PS3 hardware sales slid 440,000 units year-to-year to 4.46 million units, while sales of PS2 and PSP also fell. Sony blamed the appreciation of the yen against the dollar and euro for the anemic sales results, which dragged profits down.
As announced last week, Sony expects to record its first annual losses in 14 years, with a net loss of $1.67 billion and operating loss of $2.89 billion.
(Dade Hayes in New York contributed to this report.)
