Consumer electronics giant Sony said today it barely eked out a group net profit in the first quarter amid cooling demand for its PlayStation 2 (PS2) game machines and slumping sales of Trinitron televisions.
Profit gains generated by its life insurance business could not offset weakness from the lack of a box-office blockbuster - such as last year's Spiderman- and falling sales of Vaio personal computers and stereo systems.
Sony said group net profit fell 98 per cent from a year earlier to $9.43 million, or 1.24 yen per share, for the April to June period versus last year's first-quarter profit of 57.18 billion yen.
The games division, previously a driver for earnings growth, saw operating profit fall 31.6 per cent in the first quarter from the same period a year earlier. Shipments of PS2 consoles fell 42 per cent to 2.65 million units.
Sony's April-June profit fell 41 per cent on weak memory chip prices, but it still scored an operating margin of 11.8 per cent versus just 1 per cent for Sony in the first quarter.
In the last three months, shares in Sony have recouped losses stemming from the earnings shock, which sent the shares down almost 25 per cent in two trading days.
But the shares have still fallen 1 per cent in the past three months, compared to a 44 per cent gain for rival Matsushita, maker of Panasonic products, and a 38 per cent rise for Samsung during that period.
Sony is now worth about $29 billion, versus $28 billion for Matsushita and $55 billion for Samsung.