Sony Corporation today reported net loss of 85.6 billion yen ($785 million) for its second quarter of the financial year 2014 that ended September 30th. Even though it shipped 9.9 million smartphone in the quarter, mobile communications division has reported an operating loss of 172 billion yen ($1.6 billion) for the quarter.
Loss in the mobile communications sector is primarily due to the favorable impact of foreign exchange rates, partially offset by a decrease in sales mainly in Japan as well as an increase in marketing expenses, says Sony. It expects sales to be below the July forecast primarily due to an expected decrease in the annual unit sales of smartphones mainly in China.
Restructuring charges, recorded as operating expenses were 24.7 billion yen ( $226 million) for H1 FY14 compared to 12.5 billion yen for the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Overall sales were 1,901.5 billion yen (17,445 million U.S. dollars), a 7.2% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. In the first half of the financial quarter 2014, Sony has reported an operating loss of 174.7 billion yen. It forecasts operating loss of 230 billion yen ($2.1 billion) for the financial year that ends March 31, 2015.