Sony Q1 loss widens, cuts FY earnings forecast

Sony said Thursday its fiscal first-quarter net loss widened to 24.6 billion yen ($313.5 million) while it cut its profit forecast for the year as the struggling Japanese firm overhauls its business. The consumer electronics and entertainment giant's latest loss dwarfed the 15.5 billion yen shortfall it reported in the same period a year ago. Quarterly revenue rose 1.4 percent to 1.51 trillion yen and the company said it squeezed out an operating profit of 6.28 billion yen. Sony also said it now expected a 20 billion yen full-year profit, down from an earlier projection of 30 billion yen for the year through March 2013. In April, Sony said it would cut about 10,000 jobs and spend nearly $1.0 billion on an overhaul that its new chief Kazuo Hirai described as "urgent". Sony has vowed a return to the black after losing 456.66 billion yen 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 a strong yen, shrinking profit margins and stiff competition from foreign rivals. Piracy has threatened its music and film assets while Sony was also hurt by by last year's quake-tsunami disaster.