Sony Reports A Loss As It Waits On New TVs

Sony has reported a first-quarter net loss of 24.6bn yen (£202m) and cut its profit forecast for the year as it overhauls its business and pins its hopes on new TV technology.

The Japanese consumer electronics and entertainment giant said it now expected a 20bn yen (£164m) full-year profit.

This was down from an earlier projection of 30bn yen (£247m) for the financial year, ending March 2013.

Japanese exporters including Sony have been hammered by a strong yen - which hit record highs against the dollar late last year and remains strong.

A strong yen makes their products pricier overseas, while shrinking the value of their foreign-earned income.

In April, Sony said it would cut about 10,000 jobs and spend nearly £643m on an overhaul that its new president and CEO Kazuo Hirai described as "urgent".

Sony has vowed to return to the black after losing 456.66bn yen (£3.75bn) in the year to March, its fourth consecutive annual loss.

The losses have been particularly acute in Sony's television business, where Japanese electronics firms have been hurt by shrinking profit margins and stiff competition from foreign rivals.

Piracy has threatened its music and film assets, while Sony was also hurt by last year's joint quake and tsunami disaster.

As part of the overhaul, Sony said in June it would sell its chemical products division while teaming up with rival Japanese electronics giant Panasonic on developing televisions with advanced technology.

Despite a longstanding rivalry, the firms said they would aim to establish mass-production technology for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) television panels next year, as they try to recover from multi-billion-pound losses.

OLED technology lets producers make TVs that consume less power while offering a sharper picture than conventional flat panels.

It is expected to be one of the dominant technologies in next-generation televisions.

However, the industry has struggled to find an economical way to develop larger screens equipped with the technology, although this is set to change once the technology has become more established.

In June, Sony shares tumbled below 1,000 yen (£8.22) for the first time since 1980 and the era of the Walkman, sending the value of the company crashing to less than a 10th of what it was just over a decade ago.

On Thursday, Sony shares closed up 2.44% at 964 yen (£7.92) with the earnings results published after the markets closed.