Sony Corp cuts losses in Q3 FY12 as music operating income increases

Sony Music parent company Sony Corp has reported a 10.8bn yen ($115m; £73m) loss for the three months ending December 2012 – cutting its overall losses year-on-year.

The parent was helped by its music arm, which consolidates Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Sony/ATV). It saw operating income increase 1.1bn yen year-on-year to 16.4bn yen ($188m). Sony said the increase was primarily due to the depreciation of the yen against the US dollar and growth in digital revenue.

Music also saw sales increase 2.4% year-on-year (a 1% decrease on a constant currency basis) to 126.4bn yen ($1.453m).

The company said that this increase was also due to the favourable depreciation of the yen against the dollar and growth in digital revenue, partially offset by the continued contraction of the physical market.

Best-selling titles cited in the report included One Direction’s Take Me Home, Pink’s The Truth About Love, Celine Dion’s Sans Attendre and Alicia Keys’ Girl On Fire.

For the same period in 2011 (its third financial quarter) Sony Corp recorded a 159bn yen loss and a 557bn yen loss for the whole of the 2011 financial year.

Sony is maintaining its forecast for a return to profit at 20bn yen ($214 million) for its financial year ending in March. If it does, it will be the first time in four years.

Sony Corp sales for the most recent quarter rose by nearly 7% to 1.95 trillion yen ($21bn). Over the nine months to December 31, Sony Corp recorded total losses of 50.9bn yen – a 75% fall compared to the previous nine months.

Source: Music Week