Sony Slashes Full-Year Forecast Citing Movie Division, Drop In Electronics Sales

A downward revision in expected annual sales of cameras and TVs, and underperformance in the motion picture division have contributed to Sony‘s tweak of its full-year forecast. Net income for the year ending in March 2014 is now eyed at 30B yen ($305.4M) as opposed to the August estimate of 50B yen ($509M). The news compared with a 50.5B yen average of Bloomberg analyst estimates. Overall, total sales were up 10.6% year-on-year, but Sony recorded a net loss of $196M. Operating income was down to $151M, a 51.2% drop. Sales in the Pictures division were up on a yen basis, but down 13% to $1.8B on a U.S. dollar basis due to the depreciation of the yen against the dollar. The drop is partly due to the strength of the period last year, when 21 Jump Street was performing well on home video and the global theatrical run of The Amazing Spider-Man was still goosing the numbers. An operating loss of $181M compares to positive operating income of $80.45M in the same quarter last year and reflects the underperformance of White House Down, Sony said from Tokyo. For the full year, the division is expected to have sales and operating income below the earlier forecast, “primarily due to the underperformance” of the “current year film slate in the current quarter.” The news today follows Sony’s August reporting when the company saw a decrease in revenues following disappointing results from After Earth and a drop in home video sales. Earlier this year, hedge fund titan Daniel Loeb pushed for Sony to sell a minority stake in its entertainment assets. On the bright side, smartphone sales and music were stronger, with the latter seeing a 23.5% increase in operating income to $98M on the back of strong performers like Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience and Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz.