Sony reported lower results for its fiscal third quarter to December, hurt by the stronger yen and the earlier announced writedown at its TV and films business. Sales fell 7.1 percent to JPY 2.398 trillion and were essentially flat excluding forex effects, as growth in Playstation and semiconductor sales was offset by a continued fall in mobile phone sales. Operating profit was down 54.3 percent to JPY 92.4 billion, and net profit dropped 83.7 percent from a year earlier to JPY 19.6 billion after the impairment of JPY 112 billion at the Pictures division.
At the mobile division, sales fell 35.3 percent year-on-year to JPY 248.6 billion, with a 32 percent fall excluding currency effects. Sony blamed the drop on lower smartphone unit sales mainly in Europe, as well as in unprofitable regions where it scaled back its operations last year. Smartphone unit sales of 5.1 million were down from 7.6 million in the year-earlier period but better than the 3.5 million in fiscal Q2. Operating profit dropped 12 percent to JPY 21.2 billion, as cost reductions were unable to offset the lower sales. The company also had a JPY 12.1 billion positive impact from foreign exchange fluctuations.
For the full year to March, Sony raised its sales forecast, thanks to better forex rates, offset by the drop in mobile phone sales. It now expects annual revenue of JPY 7.60 trillion, compared to a forecast in November of JPY 7.40 trillion; this is still down from JPY 8.11 trillion a year earlier. The forecast for the mobile division was trimmed to sales of JPY 740 billion from JPY 760 billion, meaning an annual drop of 33 percent, while the company still expects a small operating profit of JPY 5 billion from the mobile business.
The profit forecast was cut due to the impairment charge and higher restructuring charges, offset in part by better results in semiconductors, where the company is profiting from demand for its image sensors in phones, and a gain on the sale of shares in M3. Sony now expects operating profit of JPY 240 billion, down from the November forecast of JPY 270 billion and JPY 294 billion reported a year earlier, and net profit of JPY 26 billion, down from JPY 60 billion in November and JPY 148 billion a year ago.
