Sony loses power from earthquake impact

SONY   Q1 PROFITS

Japan - Sony has experienced a drastic net loss in the fiscal first quarter as a result of the impact from the March 11 earthquake and the subsequent major attack on its online network.

The company saw a 15.5 billion yen (US$191 million) decline in April to June, as compared to a 25.7 billion yen profit in the same period last year.

Its consolidated operating profit dropped 59% to 27.50 billion yen with sales of 1.49 trillion yen, AFP reported.

Sony has since lowered its May forecast for an 80 billion yen net profit to 60 billion yen in the current fiscal year ending March 2012 on the back of a stronger Japanese currency and sluggish demand for its LCD television sales.

CFO Masuru Kato believed the company would experience no negative impact from the dollar but still faced an issue with the euro.

It has remained committed to shifting more operations out of Japan.

The company previously anticipated a recovery after a net loss of US$3.2 billion in the year ending March, but was later hit by the March earthquake and data breach leading to the shutting down of its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services.

However, it will still be launching its portable touchscreen PlayStation Vita gaming handset later in the year.

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