Sony issues Profit Warning

First the funny way...

UK Resistance wrote:SONY ENTERS DEATH SPIRAL - ISSUES PROFIT WARNING OVER "SALES DECLINE"
Great news from the financial markets! Sony, the manufacturer of over-priced and always-breaking electronics, has issued a profit warning, saying that demand for its over-priced and always-breaking electronics has fallen.

People are finally SEEING.



Today shall forever be known to the financial world as "Pink Thursday."



Here's how a city broker reacted to the news.

And now the serious way...

BBC Business wrote:Consumer electronics giant Sony has cut its forecast for annual operating profits by 57%, blaming the stronger yen and tough price competition.

Operating profits are now expected to be 200bn yen ($2bn; £1.25bn) for the year to March 2009, down from an earlier forecast of 470bn yen.

For the three months to end-September, it reported net income of 21bn yen, down from 73.7bn yen a year earlier.

Japanese exports have been hit by a stronger yen and a slowdown in the US.

Sony has also been bruised by price competition in the LCD, digital camera and camcorder market.

The company said that annual net profits were now expected to be 150bn yen, down from an earlier estimate of 240bn yen.

Before the announcement, shares in Sony had fallen 6.3% to close at 2,295 yen.

Down to the current economic climate or are people just finally realising that Sony products, while very good, are A) over priced & B) that there's better available for less?

bit of both

Ooooh, was thinking about a new LCD from them...maybe the price will drop....?


*hears flapping sound and smells waft of bacon*

Lime wrote:Ooooh, was thinking about a new LCD from them...maybe the price will drop....?


*hears flapping sound and smells waft of bacon*

Get a samsung. Their LCDs are made in the same factory out of the same parts. The only difference is you dont pay for the Sony brand.

Lime wrote:Ooooh, was thinking about a new LCD from them.

My God man, Why?

It may be a fall in profits, but that's still quite a handsome figure.

Sony has had a bit of a gooseberry fool year.

The Yen has risen in value this year, which has given Sony a bit of a kick in the nuts - it means Samsung (being Korean) can sell similar products (specifically HDTVs) for less and still grind out a profit.

Their mobile phone venture with Ericsson has seen massive losses (there's even speculation that Sony might pull out as its a bit of a black hole). I guess this will be because Nokia has decisively returned to the market, whilst Sony's lineup has become a confusing mish-mash.

The PS3 looks like it'll actually meet Sony's shipment targets, but game development costs have spiralled and with Sony's efforts to bring it's first and second party stuff up to muster they've taken a real beating.

Finally, as with all consumer electronics manufacturers, any retail slowdown is really bad news. Microsoft did better this quarter, but expect a decline in the next.

Apple seem to be the exception to the rule, outperforming expectations vastly, mostly thanks to the iPhone. With products as ridiculously priced as theirs though, you wonder how long they can keep it up.

UK:R wrote:always-breaking electronics

Oh UK:Resistance...

There still making money though, just less money. So its not all that bad from the going bankrupt side of things.

Profit warning are going to very common over the next year or so I feel.

I was thinking about one of these
http://whathifi.com/Review/Sony-KDL-40W4500/

Looked pretty good in the shop to me... didn't like the Panasonic plasmas at about the same price.
But, hey, open to suggestions... see you in the HDTV thread - don't want to derail this too much.

new*allusion wrote:The PS3 looks like it'll actually meet Sony's shipment targets, but game development costs have spiralled and with Sony's efforts to bring it's first and second party stuff up to muster they've taken a real beating.

And I'm wrong.

Apparently it looks as though Sony's games division might make a profit. I didn't know that they made a profit last quarter! Don't let that make you think that there's no barrier to cheaper PS3's though:

Opiate on GAF wrote:Shouldn't Sony cut the price for that reason, to make it more palatable in this current climate?

You're thinking from the consumer perspective. From the consumer's perspective, the price of the PS3 should always be as low as possible because higher prices have no value to us.

From a producer's perspective, this isn't true. If you're already losing money in a specific division and corporate profits have been shaved in half in less than a year, the last thing you want to do is cut prices and further your losses in an already bearish market.

Sony has a choice between selling less systems and making more money, or selling more systems and making less money. In this environment, the former is likely the more palatable.

Thread

Furthermore, trading (and making a profit on hardware) is harder in Europe for Sony right now because of the economic situation, so... yeah... no price cut soon.

Fatal Exception wrote:

Lime wrote:Ooooh, was thinking about a new LCD from them...maybe the price will drop....?


*hears flapping sound and smells waft of bacon*

Get a samsung. Their LCDs are made in the same factory out of the same parts. The only difference is you dont pay for the Sony brand.

NO

glowy69 wrote:

Fatal Exception wrote:

Lime wrote:Ooooh, was thinking about a new LCD from them...maybe the price will drop....?


*hears flapping sound and smells waft of bacon*

Get a samsung. Their LCDs are made in the same factory out of the same parts. The only difference is you dont pay for the Sony brand.

NO

Yes. They're build by S-LCD Corp in a factory in Tangjun, South Korea , owned 51% by Samsung and 49% by Sony.

The insides are made by different companies, the screen may be the same but the innards are very different.

Compare a Sony next to Samsung, put on anything ( A TV picture) and you will realise what I mean.

glowy69 wrote:The insides are made by different companies, the screen may be the same but the innards are very different.

Compare a Sony next to Samsung, put on anything ( A TV picture) and you will realise what I mean.

The comparable models look pretty much identical. If you compare a low end Samsung with a high end Sony then you'll see a difference.

Personally though, I think Toshiba screens beat the gooseberry fool out of both of them.

Really? Comapre a low end sony and samsung and you will see there is a rather large difference, starting with the pathetic speaker samsung call stereo sound.

FE you are so wrong, just give up.

glowy69 wrote:Really? Comapre a low end sony and samsung and you will see there is a rather large difference, starting with the pathetic speaker samsung call stereo sound.

There's no way anyone can deny that the speakers on Samsung TVs are strawberry floating useless. Just compared to a bog standard CRT, the difference is incredible. Turn the volume up to high & it starts to bloody vibrate! It really struggles with high pitched sound.

jamcc wrote:FE you are so wrong, just give up.

FE, you should come into the HD thread every now and again.

They really are poor though, some of their expensive Tv's are good with HD stuff, but they really cant seem to nail just a 'good TV'

So can I buy a sony without being ridiculed now?

Lime wrote:So can I buy a sony without being ridiculed now?

I bought one in the summer without telling anyone.. zero ridicule i'm very pleased with it too.