Sony issues another profit alert

For the second time in a relatively short period, Sony issued a profit alert for its current fiscal year. The Japanese company has been struggling for a while, but its shaky movie division has now aggravated the situation.

Nearly 1 billion euro write-off

The once-so-impervious Sony is currently taking a beating: its profit forecast for the current fiscal year has been slashed, with gross profit at 26 billion yen (200 million euro) and well below its previous 60 billion yen (500 million euro), even though that was already an adjusted forecast.

The second profit alert is a direct consequence of the dramatic turn of events in the DVD and Blu-Ray market, which forced the company to write off 112 billion yen (900 million euro) on its movie division on Monday. This division represents about 10 % of its group turnover and basically had to make up for the electronics division’s weak sales.

There seems to be no end in sight for Sony’s abysmal state: last year, it had to shut down production after a series of earthquakes and its battery division sale did not yield as much as expected. The investors are not happy with how things are going and have responded by sending Sony’s share into a nosedive on the Tokyo stock exchange for the fifth straight day.