Sony suffers unexpected loss in last quarter

Sony suffered an operating loss of 4.7 billion yen in the past quarter, equivalent to 29 million euros. In particular, the games branch of the Japanese electronics group performed poorly.

The company also suffered losses with its investment portfolio. According to Sony, the bad performance in the fourth quarter due to higher raw material prices, the stagnating growth in the global economy and the fierce competition in the markets for flat screens and games.

Despite the poor results, Sony thinks it will be able to make its games division profitable again in the coming financial year, partly because the production costs of the Playstation 3 will fall further. In total, the group expects to book a profit of 450 billion yen, the equivalent of 2.8 billion euros. That would be an increase of 20 percent compared to the previous financial year.