Sony Cuts Annual Loss Forecast as Sales Pick Up

The company, which reports its annual results next week, now expects to lose JPY 126 billion ($1.05 billion) in the year to March, down from a JPY 170 billion forecast in February and an eye-watering JPY 230 billion loss estimate last year.

Sony also lifted its operating income expectations to JPY 68 billion, up from JPY 20 billion, and said revenue would be JPY 8.21 trillion, up from an earlier JPY 8.0 trillion estimate.

The Japanese conglomerate, which has been undergoing a painful restructuring following years of massive losses, credited the modest improvement to better sales in its games and music business, and a lesser-known financial services division.

It has long struggled in the consumer electronics business that built its global brand, losing billions of dollars in televisions over the past decade as fierce competition from lower-cost rivals pummelled the TV subsidiary's finances.

Last month, Sony said its net profit for the three months to December more than tripled from a year earlier. It said the gains were due to a weak yen, increased sales of smartphones, a robust PlayStation games console business, and strong demand for image sensors used in cameras.