Sony posts Q4 loss, sees growth in cameras, TVs

By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp posted a surprise quarterly loss on Wednesday after a weak stock market ate into the value of securities held by its financial arm, but it forecast a bigger-than-expected profit this year as it boosts sales of digital cameras and flat TVs.

Sony, locked in a three-way battle with Microsoft Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd in the game industry, has been able to narrow losses on the PlayStation 3 game console by cutting manufacturing costs and expanding sales.

The electronics and entertainment conglomerate has also enjoyed strong sales of Cyber-shot digital cameras, VAIO PCs and handheld video cameras, helping push its operating profit up more than five-fold in the business year that ended on March 31.

"Considering that Sony was operating under adverse economic conditions, including a strong yen, both the results and outlook seem to show that Sony's stamina has grown stronger," said Kazuhara Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research.

It suffered an operating loss of 4.7 billion yen ($45 million) in January-March, an improvement from a 113 billion yen loss a year earlier but short of an average estimate of a 27.3 billion yen profit from five analysts surveyed by Reuters.

The fourth-quarter loss was due mainly to a slide in the value of stocks and convertible bonds held by its financial division.

Sony said it expects operating profit to grow 20 percent to 450 billion yen in the year to March 2009, beating the market consensus of 428.5 billion yen. It sees revenues rising 1 percent to 9 trillion yen.

Japanese exporters including Sony are facing tough business conditions this year due to a firmer yen, rising raw materials prices and signs of a slowdown in the global economy.