Sony Q1 Profitable

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 7/29/2010

Tokyo - Sony turned a profit in its fiscal first quarter and reported higher overall sales partly due to sales increases in LCD TVs and computers.

Sales and operating revenue was 1.661 trillion yen ($18.7 billion), up 3.8 percent in yen for the quarter ending June 30. Net income was 25.7 billion yen ($289 million), a turnaround from a 37.1 billion yen loss in last year's opening quarter.

However, the company warned that unfavorable exchange rates could hurt the company going forward. For instance, Sony said that during the quarter, the average rate of the yen was 91.0 yen against the U.S. dollar and 115.5 yen against the euro, which was 5.8 percent and 13.5 percent higher, respectively, than the previous year's first quarter.

Sony's consumer, professional and devices segment operating income was 889.5 billion yen ($9.99 billion), up 7 percent, and operating income was 50.1 billion yen ($563 million), compared with a loss in the prior year of 8.9 million yen. Growth was due in part to increased unit sales of LCD TVs.

In its networked products and services segment, sales and operating revenue was 325.9 billion yen ($3.66 billion), up 32.4 percent, but the operation posted a loss of 3.8 billion yen ($43 million), which is an improvement from the prior year's loss of 36.7 billion yen.

The sales increase was due to higher unit sales of PCs and PlayStation3 hardware and software. Unfavorable exchange rates, among other factors, took a toll on this segment's profitability.

Sony also reported that Sony Ericsson had sales of 1.757 billion euros, an increase of 4.4 percent. Sony, which has a 50 percent stake in the company, reported equity in net income of 600 million yen ($7 million), compared with a loss of 14.5 billion yen in the prior year's opening quarter.