Sony Reports Fiscal Year Earnings News

During the last fiscal year (ending March 31st 2008), Sony has increased its operating income by 491.9% over the earnings for the previous 2006/07 fiscal year. The operating increase year-on-year was from 71.8 to 374.5 billion Yen (£352 million to £1.837 billion).

Sony reported that an increase in sales, as well as the Yen's depreciation against the Euro, were the main causes of growth. Although the company's game segment did end the year at a loss of 124.5 billion Yen (£610.3 million), this did nevertheless mark an increase in operating income of 107.8 billion Yen (£528.5 million) over the previous year.

The PS3 sold 9.24 million units worldwide during the last financial year for Sony, which brings the console's total worldwide sales since its release to 12.85 million. Sales of PSP units increased by 4.36 million units over the previous fiscal year, selling a total of 13.89 million consoles during 2007/08.

Price reductions to PS3 retail packages were cited as one of the most significant reason for the reduction in losses for Sony's game segment, while impressive PS3 software sales for the fiscal year of 57.9 million units were also seen as a contributory factor.

While the increase in PSP unit sales was mainly attributed to the introduction of a slimmer model, software sales held steady for the portable console year-on-year at around 55 million units.

Although the PS2 bought in impressive sales figures (13.73 million hardware units and 154 million software units), both figures marked a decrease in sales over the previous 2006/07 fiscal year. Hardware sales dipped by 0.98 million units, while software sales saw a significant drop of 39.5 million units.

For the final quarter of fiscal 2007/08, Sony reported an operating loss of 47 billion Yen (£230.3 million), although this still marked an increase of 108.7 billion Yen (£532.7 million) over the same period for the previous fiscal year.

These strides forward for Sony during fiscal 2007/08 have led to the company posting some optimistic forecasts for the forthcoming 2008/09 financial year. The company estimates an operating income of 450 billion Yen (£2.21 billion) overall between April 1st 2008 and March 31st 2009, a 20% increase over 2007/08.

Although Sony forecasts a decrease in sales for its game segment during fiscal 2008/09 (due to PS2 sales ramping down), the company also expects a "positive operating income" due to continued hardware price reductions for the PS3 and an enhanced line-up of software titles for the next-gen console.