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TOKYO: Japan’s Sony Corp. is likely to miss its annual profit
target due to a stronger yen and weak financial markets, but still
posts a surge in earnings on brisk sales of electronic goods, a
report said Friday.
For the financial year, which ended in March,
the company will report an operating profit of around 380 billion
yen ($3.63 billion), up 430 percent from a year ago, the Nikkei
business daily said.
The figure is about 30 billion yen smaller than
Sony’s forecast issued in January, noted the paper, which did not
say where it obtained the information.
Investors appeared unfazed, with Sony shares
gaining 150 yen or 3.14 percent to 4,930 in morning trade on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange as the headline Nikkei-225 index rose 1.8
percent.
Sony enjoyed strong sales of digital cameras,
while efforts to focus on core products such as Bravia televisions
and the PlayStation 3 video game console paid off, the Nikkei said.
But the high yen curbed revenues from the United
States, while subsidiary Sony Life Insurance Co. was hit by weak
stock markets, it added.
Sony said in January it expected annual sales of
8.98 trillion yen, operating profit of 410 billion yen and net
profit of 340 billion yen.
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