By Xinhua,
Tokyo : Japanese electronics giant Sony is expected to suffer an operating loss of about 100 billion yen ($1.12 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, its first loss since 1995, media reports said Tuesday.
The projected loss, apparently because of a strong yen and sluggish sales of flat-screen televisions and other products, marks a major turnaround from a projection last October of an operating profit of 200 billion yen, Kyodo News reported citing sources.
The Japanese electronics maker recently announced 16,000 job cuts and other drastic restructuring plans in December.
In October, Sony had forecast a net profit of 150 billion yen for the financial year 2008, down 59 percent from last year and much worse than an earlier goal of 240 billion yen.
It had forecast a full-year operating profit of 200 billion yen, compared with 475.3 billion yen in financial year 2007.