Sony has posted a small rise in quarterly profits recently, but are being cautious about painting too rosy a picture. Sony’s Cybershot series of cameras and Handycam camcorders had a strong fourth quarter which helped to bolster the Japanese giants overall numbers. Sony even managed to get better numbers out of it’s gaming division by lowering production costs on the PS3 as well as getting some improved sales figures for the PSP.
“The game division turning into the black is a positive,” said Takeshi Osawa, a senior fund manager at Norinchukin Zenkyoren Asset Management. “But the U.S. economic outlook is a cause of concern for its consumer electronics business.”
The news is not all good however as Sony lowered its predictions for operating profit in the year ending in March to $3.86 billion from $4.22 billion, blaming the rising yen and the falling US stock market, which has cut into the value of Sony’s life insurance unit (yes, fellow geeks Sony has a life insurance division).
Troubling as well is the fact that Sony’s hated rival Matsushita Electric Industrial posted a 22 percent gain in quarterly profits and is sticking to its forecast. This might be somewhat optimistic as the downturn in the US market will affect both companies.
Read [CNET]
After buying a ps3, my fortunes are now tied to sony's. If sony goes bust, there ends the usefulness of my expensive game machine.
Go Sony go go go!!!
<a target="_new" href="http://dragonlasers.com/"> Dragonlasers – No 1 lasers, laser pointer and green laser online store