Japanese electronics giant Sony said 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.
Sony at CES 2013