Sony Posts Fiscal Year Revenue and Profit Growth

TOKYO, May 14: Sony
Corporation achieved record results in its fiscal year ended March 31, 2008,
with net income almost tripling to Y369.4 billion ($3.5 billion), on revenues
that were up 6.9 percent to Y8.9 trillion ($84.3 billion).

While Sony posted
company-wide gains, the Sony Pictures Entertainment business saw revenues drop
11.2 percent to Y857.9 billion ($8.6 billion). Nonetheless, the division upped
its operating income by 26.5 percent to Y54 billion ($540 million).

The Electronics segment
showed an 8.9-percent hike in revenues to Y6.6 trillion ($66.1 billion), while
operating income soared 121.8 percent to Y356 billion ($3.6 billion). The unit
was boosted by sales of Bravia TVs, Vaio PCs and Cyber-shot digital cameras.

In the Games division,
increased sales of the PSP and PS3 led to a 26.3-percent increase in revenues
to Y1.3 trillion ($12.8 billion), and the segment narrowed its operating loss
from 2007’s Y232.3 million to Y124.5 billion ($1.3 million).

In the fourth quarter,
meanwhile, sales dropped 6.5 percent to Y1.9 trillion ($19.5 billion).
Nonetheless, the company emerged from last year’s Y67.6 billion loss to report
a profit of Y29 billion ($290 million).

—By Mansha Daswani