Sony April-December loss shrinks 75%

Japanese electronics giant Sony said on Thursday that its net loss from April to December shrank 75 percent on-year and added that it remains on track to achieve its forecast of a full-year profit. The company lost 50.87 billion yen ($544 million) in the nine months, compared with a 201.45 billion yen loss in the same period a year earlier, while it expects to book a 20-billion-yen net profit in the year to March. The results, which follow reports that Sony will this month announce the late 2013 launch of its latest PlayStation games console, showed the firm also returned to profitability on the operating side from a year earlier. Nine-month operating profit was 82.96 billion yen, reversing a year-earlier operating loss of 65.86 billion yen, Sony said. Sales in the period rose 3.6 percent to 5.07 trillion yen thanks to strong demand for mobile products and movies, offsetting falling sales of liquid crystal display televisions and in the key games unit, the company said. Last month, Sony said it was selling its US headquarters in Manhattan for about $1.1 billion as part of a huge restructuring, with separate reports saying it may also unload one of its main buildings in Tokyo, which accommodates the company's struggling television division. The New York sale, expected to close in March, comes as the once-iconic company aims for a return to profitability after four years in the red. Last year, Sony's hard times saw its stock value tumble below 1,000 yen a share for the first time since the era of the Walkman. The shares have since come back, closing 2.56 percent higher at 1,519 yen on Thursday in Tokyo.