Sony Pictures Sales +9.3% In June Quarter As Parent Co Reels From Earthquake Expenses

Sony Pictures’ strong performance in the quarter that ended in June stood out as the corporation reported a net loss of $191M on revenues of $18.5B, down 10% vs. the same period last year. Sony attributed the decline to the effects of this year’s earthquake and tsunami as well as lower-than-expected sales of TV sets and other consumer electronics. As a result, Sony lowered its net profit forecast for the year ending March 2012 by 25% to $771M.

Home video sales for The Green Hornet, Battle: Los Angeles, and Just Go With It as well as television ad revenues from India contributed to the $1.78B fiscal 1Q for Sony Pictures. The company says that the unit delivered $53M in operating profit, up 50.4% vs. the same period last year. Results were somewhat muddled at Sony Music due to currency exchange issues. Its profits were 61.4% to $149M on sales of $1.35B, down 0.6%. But the company says the slight drop is largely due to the appreciation of the yen vs the U.S. dollar. Factoring that out, the music operation’s sales were up 7%. Best sellers for the quarter included recordings from the TV show Glee, Adele’s 21, Beyonce’s 4, and Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light.