Sony sees 57% drop in profit in March quarter due to COVID-19 disruption

Tokyo, May 13 (IANS) Hit by COVID-19 induced slump in demand for its electronics products and solutions, Japans Sony Corp on Wednesday reported a 57 per cent drop in operating income in the quarter ending March 31 compared to a year ago.

The weak results for its quarter (Q4) also dragged down the company’s operating income for the financial year.

Sony’s operating income in Q4 declined to 35.4 billion yen from 82.7 billion yen a year ago.

Sony posted sales and operating revenue of 1,748.7 billion yen, compared to 2,127.5 billion yen in Q4 of the previous year, a decline of 18 per cent.

Sony estimated that its consolidated operating income in FY 2019 took a 68.2 billion yen hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its electronics products and solutions took the maximum hit as a result of supply shortage due to shutdown of factories in China and Malaysia. The decrease in demand due to lockdowns around the world also hampered the sector.

Its imaging and sensing solutions were hit as a result of decrease in demand mainly due to interruption of customer operations and supply chains.

Sonly also saw a decrease in usage of music for TV advertisements, restaurants, bars, etc. Cancellation and postponement of events due to COVID-19 also hit its music segment.

However, the company saw an increase in game software download sales and network services due to COVID-19.

In FY 2019, Sony reported operating income of 845.5 billion yen compared to 894.2 billion yen in FY 2018, a drop of 5 per cent.

–IANS

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