Sony forced to trim forecasts as demand for its devices plunges
SONY yesterday slashed its forecast for 2012/13 operating profit and lowered its sales expectations for key products including its handheld PSP and PS Vita devices as new boss Kazuo Hirai battles to revive the fortunes of the electronics giant.
Sony reported yesterday that operating profit for April to June fell a much steeper-than-expected 77 per cent to 6.28bn yen compared with a year earlier. Analysts had expected a 36 per cent fall in profit.
In a further sign of its struggle to appeal to consumers in the face of competition from the likes of Apple, Samsung Electronics and Microsoft, Sony cut some projections for product sales for the year to March 2013.
It expects to shift 15.5m TVs, down from a May projection of 17.5m, reflecting the waning demand for televisions.
Sony expects handheld device sales of 12m, instead of 16m, although it maintained a forecast for 16m sales of the PlayStation games console.
Citing exchange rate moves and a weak global economy, Sony cut its forecast for operating profit in 2012/13 to 130bn yen from a previous forecast of 180bn yen.
Sony’s European sales account for a fifth of all revenue.