Sony profit plunges 72 percent on strong yen
TOKYO (AP) -- Sony Corp.'s quarterly profit plunged 72 percent as a surging yen wiped out perks from flat-panel TV and PlayStation 3 sales, as well as box office revenue from the movie "Hancock."
Sony said Wednesday it posted a net profit of 20.8 billion yen ($214 million) for the July-September period compared with 73.7 billion yen a year earlier. Sales in the fiscal second quarter slipped 0.5 percent to 2.072 trillion yen ($21.4 billion).
Sony makes about 80 percent of its sales overseas and is vulnerable to fluctuations in exchange rates. A rising yen erodes the overseas profits when converted into the Japanese currency.
"We already expect a poor performance for the Christmas shopping season," Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda told reporters. "On how things will fare after Christmas, I can only say we will continue to keep a careful look."
Sony loses 7.5 billion yen ($77 million) in profit for each 1 yen gain against the euro, and 4 billion yen ($40 million) for each 1 yen gain against the dollar, he said.
Emphasis added by me.
I wonder now ... since the Sony Reader division is now completely based here in America, will that grant it some immunity from the currency flip-flips? I hope so. It'd be great if, back in Japan, Sony sees some very surprising -- and high -- numbers from America and eBooks.
I'd like to see some bust-out numbers like this:
Sony reduced quarterly losses in the gaming business as sales in the sector improved 10 percent. Sony sold 2.43 million PlayStation 3 consoles during the quarter, up 85 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Emphasis added by me.
Gambatte, Sony!
No comments:
Post a Comment