Sony eyes return to profit as it halves losses

SONY yesterday revealed that it had halved its losses and predicted a return to profit as restructuring and an aggressive 3-D roll-out bear fruit.

The company reported a 40.8 billion (300 million) loss for the year to 31 March, an improvement on the previous year's 98.9bn deficit, which was Sony's first loss in 14 years.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant credited LCD TVs and digital cameras for helping drive its turnaround. It also cited its life insurance unit, where revenue surged 58 per cent. Chief financial officer Nobuyuki Oneda said: "We began to see improvements gain momentum from the second-half last year."

Sony expects to climb back into the black in its present financial year, forecasting a net profit of 50bn on revenue of 7.6 trillion.

Since taking over in 2005, chief executive Howard Stringer has tried to unite the company's sprawling businesses, improve efficiency and rein in costs.

He strengthened control over Sony a year ago by calling for a company-wide reorganisation and naming a new leadership team, which includes former IBM executive George Bailey to the newly-created position of "chief transformation officer".

The Welsh-born chief executive's initiatives appear to be paying off. Sony cut costs by more than 330bn last year, beating its own targets, the company said. Procurement costs have declined by almost 20 per cent, and it has shut 11 plants since December 2008.