Sony Corp today reported an 8.6% decline in net income for the October-December quarter to 72.3 billion yen ($886 million), which it attributed to the strength of the Japanese yen and a slowdown in TV sales.
The company had registered a net income of 79.2 billion yen in the corresponding year-ago period, Sony said in a statement.
The Japanese electronics conglomerate attributed the decline in profits to the strong yen and poor performance of its television business.
The company's sales and operating revenue was down 1.4% to 2.2 trillion yen in October-December, 2010, vis-a-vis the corresponding period of the previous year, due to unfavourable foreign exchange rates.
Sony, which generates most of its sales outside of Japan, was hurt by the strength of the yen, as it not only made prices of products sold overseas more expensive, it also reduced the company's realisation from products sold in other currencies in Japanese yen terms.
The company's operating profit dropped by 5.9% year-on-year to 137.5 billion yen in the third quarter of 2010.
Sony said its operating income in the networked products and services segment increased significantly due to the contribution of its game business.
However, operating income decreased in most other segments, which was mainly due to a slowdown in sales of LCD televisions.
For the full fiscal ending March 31, Sony maintained its forecast of a net profit of 70 billion yen, though it lowered its revenue forecast to 7.2 trillion yen from the earlier projection of 7.4 trillion yen.
