Sony Reports $199M Q1 Loss; Cuts Profit Forecast 25%

Earthquake, Playstation hacking, strong yen factor into losses

Sony reported a $199 million loss in its first quarter because of the March earthquake and tsunami, softer TV sales, Playstation hacking, and a strong yen, and cut its profit forecast for the fiscal year by 25 percent.

The 15.5 billion yen loss compared to 25.7 billion yen in profits for the first quarter of 2010. The company lowered its May forecast of an 80 billion yen net profit this fiscal year to 60 billion yen. That would still be far better than the 259.6 billion yen loss for the fiscal year that ended in March.

Among the good news for the company: Sony Pictures earned 132.1 billion yen, up 9.3 percent, thanks in part to the home entertainment release of films including "The Green Hornet," "Battle: Los Angeles," and "Just Go With It."

The company's Consumer Products & Services reported a 17.9 percent year-over-year decline (a 13 decrease on a local currency basis) to 732.3 billion yen. The drop resulted primarily from lower LCD TV and PC revenue.

Music sales were down 0.6 percent year-on-year to 109.6 billion yen because of the appreciation of the yen against the dollar. On a local currency basis, sales increased year-over-year reflecting the strong sales of a number of releases including Adele’s "21," Beyonce’s "4," Foo Fighters’ "Wasting Light" and music from the cast of "Glee."

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