Sony profit down 90 percent, may miss outlook

By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp posted a 90 percent fall in quarterly profit as the global slowdown boosted the yen, battered stocks and stoked price competition, and the company kept its annual profit outlook of a 58 percent decline.

The steep profit slide was expected after the electronics and entertainment conglomerate last week cut its annual operating profit forecast by 57 percent, citing yen strength, slowing digital camera and flat TV demand and tumbling share prices.

The maker of Bravia flat TVs, Cyber-shot digital cameras and PlayStation game machines warned on Wednesday it might miss even the revised-down target by a large margin if the yen continues to trade at current levels against the dollar and euro.

A firmer yen eats into exporters' overseas revenues when they are converted into the Japanese currency.

Operating profit totaled 11.05 billion yen ($111.5 million) in July-September, down from 111.62 billion yen a year earlier as a sharp fall in Tokyo shares forced Sony's financial unit to post appraisal losses in its convertible bond holdings.

A one-off profit of 60.7 billion yen from a land sale that Sony posted in the corresponding period a year earlier also made impacted the scale of the decline.

Net profit fell 72 percent to 20.8 billion yen on sales of 2.07 trillion yen, down 0.5 percent.

The electronics and entertainment conglomerate competes with Canon Inc in digital cameras, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in LCD TVs, and Microsoft Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd in video games.

Sony reaffirmed an operating profit forecast it issued last Thursday of 200 billion yen for the year to March, down from 475.3 billion yen a year earlier.

Earlier this week, Canon cut its annual operating profit forecast by one quarter on a firmer yen and cooling consumer sentiment, while Panasonic Corp stood by its original full-year outlook of 8 percent profit growth.

"If Panasonic ends up posting a year-on-year profit decline, it would be a fall of 20 or 30 percent tops," Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Kazuharu Miura said.

"On the other hand, Sony's earnings cannot help swing violently due to changes in outer factors. Unless Sony rectifies this structural problem, it would be experiencing a profit decline of a similar magnitude in five years or so."

In announcing its latest outlook on Thursday, Sony said it may close some plants, reduce capital spending and cut jobs.