Sony Hit By PS2 Slump News

Sony Corp today announced that its quarterly operating profit fell by 20% to 159 billion yen for the last quarter of 2003, citing dwindling sales of the Playstation2 and a slump in returns from its movie division.<br><br>On a net basis, quarterly profit fell by 26% compared to the same period last year to 92.6 billion yen and sales rose by 0.7% to a record 2.32 trillion yen.<br><br>Sony left its operating profit forecast at 100 billion yen for the financial year dated to March 31st, as it has decided to raise its full-year restructuring expense from 140 billion yen to 150 billion yen. <br><br>However the Japanese firm lifted its expected net profit for the financial year to March 31st to 55 billion yen, up from the previously expected 50 billion yen profit, which was widely attributed towards a strong Euro.<br><br>It’s claimed that PS2 worldwide sales dropped by 15% during the quarter, although its full-year expectations were met. It must also be suggested that Sony have invested a great amount into the restructuring of the company and setting up dedicated production plants, particularly for the production of the CELL processor alongside Toshiba.<br><br>The news comes at a time when sales in its core consumer electronics division has been weakened, whereas more focussed companies such as Matsushita and Sharp have performed strongly.<br><br>The weakest performer during the fourth quarter was however Sony’s movie division, which posted profits down by 82% and sales dropped by 29% after the studio failed to match the success of last years ‘Spiderman’ and ‘MIB2’ releases.<br><br>The news certainly comes as no surprise; however financial analysts have been quick to remind us of the surprise <a href=http://www.totalvideogames.com/?section=Read%20News&id=3409&gameid=2803&format=000006>‘Sony Shock’</a> announcement from the January – March period last year, which saw the company post losses of 111.4 billion yen and sent share prices spiraling.