Sony revises full year profit forecast
Company swings from operating loss to income following severe cost-cutting
Sony has released a revised forecast ahead of the reporting of its full year financials this Thursday.
According to the company, it expects to have generated operating profit of ¥32 billion (£229m / $343m) over the year, a sum much improved on February's forecast of a ¥30 billion loss (£215m / $321m).
The company's sales and operating revenue predictions were down slightly on February's estimate overall however by one per cent from ¥7.3 trillion ($78.5bn / £52.4bn).
Its games business was mentioned briefly in the statement, with Sony saying:
"Within the Networked Products & Services segment, operating results are expected to exceed the February forecast by approximately 10 billion yen (£71m / $107m) mainly due to improved performance within the game business and VAIO PCs as a result of better than anticipated reductions in both operating expenses and manufacturing cost."
Sony's Q3 financials showed a boosted operating profit of ¥19.4 billion (£134m / $213 million), an improvement of ¥25.3 (£125m / $277m) billion year on year.
However, profitability of the games business specifically was relatively unchanged, with cheaper hardware manufacturing costs for the PlayStation 3 offset by declining PS2 and PSP sales.