Sony Full-Year Net Profit Down 50 Percent

Sony Corporation has recorded a full-year net profit of 73.3 billion yen ($657 million), a decline of 50.4 percent from the prior year, dragged down by losses in its pictures division.

Sales and operating revenue decreased by 6.2 percent compared to the previous fiscal year, mainly due to the impact of foreign exchange rates. Operating income decreased 5.5 billion yen year-on-year, mainly due to the $962 million impairment charge of goodwill recorded in the pictures segment.

Within the pictures unit, sales decreased 3.7 percent year-on-year to 903.1 billion yen ($8.1 billion), primarily due to the impact of the appreciation of the yen against the U.S. dollar. The increase in sales on a U.S. dollar basis was primarily due to higher sales for TV productions and media networks. Sales for television productions increased primarily due to higher SVOD licensing revenues. An operating loss of 80.5 billion yen ($722 million) was recorded, compared to operating income of 38.5 billion yen in the previous fiscal year. This drop was primarily due to the goodwill impairment charge. The operating results were also negatively impacted by higher programming and marketing expenses for media networks as well as higher theatrical marketing expenses for motion pictures.

For its 2018 financial year, Sony is forecasting its biggest overall operating profit in 20 years, expecting the company’s results to spike to 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion).