Sony sees revenues and profits rise
Full year financial results shows increased sales and the videogame business halved its loss over last year
Sony Corporation has reported its financial results for the year ending March 31, 2008, with revenues and profits up on the previous year.
In total, across the group, the company took JPY 8.87 trillion (USD 84.4 billion), a rise of 6.9 per cent on the previous year, with net income hitting JPY 369.4 billion (USD 3.51 billion) - almost tripling the previous year's total of JPY 126.3 (USD 1.20 billion).
Sales of buildings, as well as funds received from the flotation of its financial business last year, contributed to the strong showing, although its consumer products also performed well.
The majority of the good news came from its electronics division, with record sales and operating income on the back of Bravia TV and Cyber-Chot camera sales, but the videogames unit also posted a far more promising set of figures than last year.
Sales in that department increased 26.3 per cent year-on-year to JPY 1.28 trillion (USD 12.2 billion), resulting in a narrowing of the loss from JPY 232.3 billion (USD 2.21 billion) to JPY 124.5 billion (USD 1.18 billion).
The company cited the principal reasons for the reduction of those losses as a lower cost of production for the PlayStation 3 console combined with a strong performance - particularly in Japan - of the PlayStation Portable.
Sales performance in the next twelve months is expected to improve slightly, with revenues rising by 1 per cent to JPY 9 trillion (USD 85.6 billion), although the company forecasts a fall in profits, by 22 per cent to JPY 290 billion (USD 2.76 billion) mainly due to the expected appreciation of the Yen against the Dollar.