Andre Yoskowitz
31 Jul 2014 20:16
Sony has issued yet another warning, following slow sales of its smartphones, now claiming that the company will not make a profit on its smartphone division for the year.
For the quarter ended June 30th, total operating profit doubled, thanks mainly to strong PlayStation sales and asset sales, but its smartphone sales forecast dropped severely, with the company now expecting to break even rather than its previous $250 million profit forecast.
"It is possible the (smartphone strategy) review might result in an impairment charge against various assets in the mobile communications segment," said new CFO Kenichiro Yoshida. "We are also discussing whether to change the number of phones in our line-up and adjust their lifecycle."
For the year, Sony says it now forecasts a 140 billion yen operating profit but a large 50 billion yen net loss ($486 million USD). For phones, the company expects to sell 43 million smartphones for the year, down from 50 million.
In better news, the company expects to be profitable for its TV division for the first time in a decade thanks to cost cutting that includes 5000 layoffs and a smaller product line.
Source:
Reuters