Sony pushes back profit margin target to 2013
Nov 19, 2009 Others
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Mayumi Negishi
Japan’s Sony Corp pushed back an elusive target of an operating profit margin of 5 percent to March 2013, as it heads for its second straight loss and loses ground to overseas competitors.
Sony, which is shedding jobs, closing plants and selling non-core assets this year, said on Thursday it now aims to earn a 5 percent operating profit margin and a 10 percent return-on-equity in the year ending in March 2013.
Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer had originally set the 5 percent margin target in 2005 for the financial year to March 2008 but the company narrowly missed it, and its plans for recovery have since been waylaid by the economic slow down.
The maker of Bravia TVs and PlayStation game consoles said it would deliver on its promise to make its LCD TV and game operations profitable, launch 3D TVs and make a belated entry into lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
Investors have been waiting for years for a convincing growth strategy from Sony management.
“It will be quite a challenge for Sony to turn its TV business profitable next year. Price declines are cancelling their cost cut efforts,” Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co said. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amazon, LCD TV, Microsoft Corp, Nintendo Co Ltd, Profit, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Share, Sony, Sony Corp, Sony management, Stock Market, TV business
