Sony Corporation’s net loss in the second quarter widened to ¥136 billion ($1.2 billion) from ¥19.6 billion ($172.6 million) in Q2 of last year, though turnover increased to ¥1.9 trillion ($16.7 billion) from ¥1.7 trillion ($14.9 billion). The increase in sales was attributed primarily to a significant increase in Sony’s game and network services business, reflecting the contribution of the Playstation 4 and a significant increase in the devices segment. However, these gains were partially offset by a significant decrease in sales in the ‘all other’ sectors of Sony’s business, mostly related to its exit from the PC business which cost Sony ¥7.7 billion ($67.8 million) in Q2, including ¥4.1 billion ($36.1 million) of restructuring charges.
For the first half of the year, Sony reported a net loss of ¥109.1 billion ($961.6 million) on turnover of ¥3.7 trillion ($32.6 million), which compares with a net loss of ¥16.5 billion ($145.5 million) on turnover of ¥3.5 trillion ($30.8 billion). Sony has lowered its phone and TV shipment forecasts for the year, though projected turnover of ¥7.8 trillion ($624.1 billion) and a net loss of ¥230 billion ($2 billion) remains the same. Sony expects to sell 41 million smartphones this fiscal year, versus the previous forecast of 43 million units, while the LCD TV shipment forecast has been lowered to 14.5 million units from 15.5 million.
