Sony Sees Narrower FY Loss; Improved Operating Income, Sales

(RTTNews) - Japanese consumer electronics maker Sony Corp. (SON.L, SNE) Wednesday said that it now expects a narrower loss for the fiscal year ended march 31, 2015 when compared to its previous projection in early February. The raised loss outlook was attributable to the projected higher operating income as well as sales and operating revenues.

The company's outlook for loss, operating income as well as sales and operating revenue issued in early February was itself an upward revision form the forecast provided in September 2014.

The company now expects annual net loss attributable to stockholders to be narrower at 126 billion yen, compared to prior outlook of a loss 170 billion yen issued in early February. In the prior year, the company had reported a loss of 128.4 billion yen.

It also raised annual operating income guidance to 68 billion yen from the prior estimate of 20 billion yen. The company reported operating income of 26.5 billion yen last year.

The company has projected an improvement in operating income, primarily due to anticipated increase in the financial services segment due to a decrease in the provision of policy reserves pertaining to minimum guarantees for variable insurance at Sony Life Insurance Co., Ltd.

It also reflects higher sales and operating revenue as well as a decrease in costs in the home entertainment & sound segment.

Sales and operating revenue is now projected at 8.21 trillion yen, up from the previous outlook of 8.0 trillion yen. The company reported sales and operating revenue of 7.77 trillion yen last year.

The sales outlook was boosted primarily due to an anticipated increases in financial services revenue as well as sales in the music, imaging products & solutions, and game & network services segments.

The company noted that the actual consolidated results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015 and the consolidated results forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016 are scheduled to be announced on April 30, 2015.

In Wednesday's regular trading session, SNE is currently trading at $32.33, up $1.45 or 4.70% on a volume of 0.55 million shares.