Sony forecasts growth in gaming, components

Sony hopes to finish restructuring of its mobile business in the fiscal year ending in March 2016, making it profitable from the next fiscal year, the company said. "Our urgent task is to make the business profitable even if sales drops by 20-30 percent," said Hiroki Totoki, head of the mobile business, at a meeting with investors reported by the Wall Street Journal. Sony believes the smartphone industry is already matured, so it plans to focus on marketing on existing customers, instead of new ones, Totoki said. 

While the company did not provide any new forecasts for the mobile business beyond the current financial year, when it's expected to remain in the red, it did give updated forecasts for other divisions. The gaming business is expected to grow to sales of JPY 1.4-1.6 trillion by fiscal 2018 and reach an operating margin of 5-6 percent, compared to an estimated JPY 1.29 trillion and 2.7 percent this year. The camera division is expected stable at revenues of JPY 650-700 billion and a margin of 7-8 percent in fiscal 2018, versus a forecast JPY 710 billion and 7.3 percent this year. 

The components division is forecast to show the strongest growth, reaching sales of JPY 1.3-1.5 trillion from JPY 890 billion in the year to March 2015 and improving its margin to 10-12 percent in the next three years from an estimated 7.5 percent this year. The home entertainment division should reach revenues of JPY  1.0-1.1 trillion and a margin of 2-4 percent in fiscal 2018, compared to JPY 1.2 trillion in revenues and a margin of less than 1 percent this year. 

Sony said it would give a new three-year forecast for the mobile business by the end of the current financial year. For the 12 months to March 2015 it forecasts an operating loss of JPY 204 billion on revenues of JPY 1.35 trillion.