Sony Caps Its Fiscal Year With a Profit

Shrinking losses in its PlayStation 2 video-game business, combined with robust electronic sales, helped Sony Corp. turn a profit of $127 million for its fiscal fourth quarter ended in March. The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant made a strong recovery from losses of $295 million for the same quarter a year ago, largely caused by the huge costs of launching its new PlayStation 2 console. Executive Deputy President Teruhisa Tokunaka said Sony’s game business will finally stop losing money in the new fiscal year as more games hit stores and software sales pick up. For the January-March period, sales in Sony’s game sector were $1.5 billion, up 24% from last year. Of Sony’s six operating units, three made money in the final fiscal quarter, including the music, movie and insurance businesses. Overall sales for the quarter were $15 billion, up 16.5% from the previous year. For the full fiscal year ending in March, group net profit plunged 86% to $135 million from $976 million in the previous year. Full-year sales hit $59 billion, up 9.4% from the previous 12 months. Sony blamed the profit decline on an accounting change in the movie industry, which cost the company $228 million. Sony’s American depositary receipts rose $1.35 to close at $76.45 on the NYSE.