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Sony said Thursday it booked a $1.1 billion loss for its latest fiscal year, but the struggling electronics giant expects a profit in the next 12 months as it embarks on an overhaul.
The latest loss for Sony comes as the once world-leading firm continues with a painful restructuring that has included layoffs and asset sales, as it races to rescue its battered balance sheet.
Boss Kazuo Hirai, a company veteran tapped to turn the firm around, has said he would keep splitting the business into self-operating units in a bid to return to profitability.
Sony said its net loss for the year to March was 126 billion yen ($1.1 billion), a slight improvement on the 128.4 billion yen loss a year ago, as it absorbs big restructuring costs.
It was also much lower than the 170 billion yen forecast by the company in February, which was itself a reduction from it earlier 230 billion yen estimated shortfall.
On Thursday, the electronics-entertainment conglomerate posted an operating profit of 68.5 billion yen, more than double the previous year, on sales of 8.21 trillion yen, a 5.8 percent increase.
Strong sales of the PlayStation 4 games console and electronic devices, including image sensors used in cameras, helped drive revenue, while a weaker yen — which lifts the value of repatriated overseas income — also boosted results, it said.
Sony said a long-suffering television unit was showing signs of improvement.
“This improvement was primarily due to cost reductions and an improvement in product mix reflecting a shift to high value-added models,” it said in a statement.
