Sony likely bounced to black in first quarter: report

Released on - Monday,26 July , 2010 -06:54 21

Japan's Sony is likely to have swung back to the black in the first quarter with operating profit reaching 30 billion yen (342 million dollars) due to aggressive cost-cutting, a report said Monday.

That would compare with a 25.7-billion-yen loss in the same April-June period last year and represent the first profit in two quarters, the Nikkei business daily reported ahead of official results on Thursday.

Under chief executive and president Howard Stringer, the Japanese company has been streamlining operations and cutting costs to trim back the sprawling group, which was battered by the global downturn.

Plant consolidation and lay-offs saved the company more than 300 billion yen the previous fiscal year, making the company more resilient to blows such as the yen's recent rise against the euro, the Nikkei said.

Rebounding demand from China and other emerging companies helped lift sales of digital cameras, personal computers and video cameras, the report said.

Liquid crystal display televisions also sold well, and Sony's game and mobile phone divisions returned to profitability thanks to cost savings.

Stringer has promised to reinvent Sony -- the maker of the iconic Walkman -- and the group is revving up for the year-end holidays with the September launch of the "Move" motion-sensing controller for PlayStation 3.

The company is also banking on the mounting popularity of products that enable three dimensional viewing.

In April it released a software update enabling the PS3 to support 3D games. Televisions showing 3D images went on sale in Japan last month.

Sony has also released a 3D camera and its film studio Sony Pictures is rolling out 3D movies.

Shares in Sony were up 1.19 percent at 2,543 yen at noon in Tokyo.