Here’s how much earthquakes in Japan have cost Sony so far this year
Fresh from announcing its full-year forecast will be lower than expected yesterday as a result of selling off part of its business, Sony revealed that's not the only struggle in the fight for profit.
Earthquakes in Kumamoto, Japan, earlier this year were among the reasons for a 48 per cent fall in operating profit in the second quarter to the end of September, it said today. It fell to ¥45.7bn (£3.5bn), down from ¥88bn a year earlier, falling short of analyst estimates.
Production at Sony's image sensor making and semiconductor factory Kumamoto Technology Center had to be halted after a string of earthquakes this year.
The total cost of that is now estimated to be ¥53.5bn, which turns out to be less than the ¥80bn expected back in July.
Read more: Sony cuts profit forecast after battery business sale
Some ¥10.5bn of that's associated with the image sensor business and ¥39.5bn with semiconductors, while lost sales is put at ¥3.5bn. It will, however, get back ¥10bn in insurance.
Earthquakes, along with a weaker yen and the writedown on the sale of its battery business, led to a loss of ¥4.2bn in its semiconductor business, while imaging sensors declined more than 35 per cent to ¥14.9bn.
But, its film and TV business "improved significantly" raking in ¥3.2bn yen compared to a ¥22.5bn loss in the same quarter last year. And its music business was up more than 15 per cent to ¥16.5bn.
Playstation helped gaming deliver ¥19bn profits – although that was down 20 per cent year-on-year as a result of reducing the prices of Playstations in tandem with the weaker yen.