Sony is expected to next week report its first full-year operating profit in 2 years, according to a report in Saturday’s Nikkei newspaper.
The newspaper said strong sales of flat-panel TVs in China and Japan and cost cutting throughout its operations were largely to thank for the operating profit. It didn’t cite a source for the report or detail the size of the operating profit expected.
Operating income covers money made or lost at a company’s core operations and excludes extraordinary income and expenses.
Sony has been struggling with losses and poor business performance for the last few years, but there have recently been signs that the company is getting back on track. For the last three months of 2009 it was able to report its first operating profit in five quarters. It credited its ongoing restructuring work for the result.
At the same time it cut in half its full-year operating loss forecast to ¥30 billion (US$319 million). Sony has not updated its forecast since then.
The company is due to announce full-year earnings for the year from April 2009 to March 2010 on May 13.
A Sony spokesperson could not be reached for comment due to Japan’s Golden Week public holidays.