February 04, 2010

By By Andre Paine, London

Sony Corp has issued third quarter results showing the first profit in five quarters at the Tokyo-based company, following its restructuring.

The electronics company's music arm, including Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment Japan and the 50% stake in Sony/ATV, increased sales and operating revenue by 2% year-on-year, from 160.2 billion yen ($1.77 billion) to 163.5 billion yen ($1.81 billion).

The company said in a statement that strong sales from key releases by Susan Boyle, Michael Jackson and Alicia Keys "more than offset the continued decline in the physical music market."

Operating income at the music arm of Sony Corp increased 8.2% year-on-year, from 21.4 billion yen ($236.6 million) to 23.1 billion yen ($255.4 million). This reflects higher sales as well as year-on-year decreases in overhead and restructuring costs.

Sony Corp posted an operating profit of 146.1 billion yen ($1.61 billion) for October to December, compared to a loss of 17.96 billion yen ($198.6 million) a year earlier. Net profit increased eight times to 79.2 billion yen ($875.7 million), while sales rose 3.9% to 2.24 trillion yen ($24.8 billion).

The company said strong demand for electronics in the year-end shopping season helped boost its results.

"We didn't need to worry too much about price cuts for TVs and other consumer products," Sony CFO Nobuyuki Oneda told reporters. "Progress in restructuring also helped."

Sony also launched a lower-priced version of its PlayStation 3 game console, stirring up demand in the critical holiday season.

For the full year to March 31, Sony cut its operating loss forecast to 30 billion yen ($331.6 billion) from 60 billion yen ($663.2 billion).

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