Sony Corporation has reported its revenues for third quarter of the financial year 2014 that ended December 31st. Sales increased to 2,557.8 billion yen ( US$ 21,139 million), an increase of 6.1%. It shipped 11.9 million smartphone in the quarter, compared to 9.9 million the previous quarter and 10.7 the same quarter the previous year, which is a 11% increase. The mobile communications division has reported sales of 429 billion yen (US$ 3,545 million) for the quarter, a 28.7% increase year-on-year and income of 9.3 billion yen ( US$76 million U.S. dollars).
The increase in mobile sale in the quarter was primarily due to an improvement in product mix and the favorable impact of foreign exchange rates. The devices sector saw an increase of 38.6% year-on-year to 292.9 billion yen (US$ 2,421 million). This significant increase was primarily due to a significant increase in sales of image sensors reflecting higher demand for mobile products, said Sony.
Regarding the outlook for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015, the mobile sales are expected to be below the October forecast primarily due to an expected decrease in unit sales of smartphones mainly in the Asia Pacific region, partially offset by the favorable impact of foreign exchange rates, said the company. Operating loss is also expected to be larger than the October forecast primarily due to the unfavorable impact of the appreciation of the U.S. dollar and the impact of decrease in sales, but the average selling prices will be maintained longer than anticipated at the time of the October forecast, it said.
Net restructuring charges are expected to decrease 4.6 billion yen YoY to 9.0 billion yen (US$ 75 million) in the quarter, said the company. Sony would also be reducing the headcount in its mobile division by 2,100, that includes 1,000 job cuts in the division that was already announced according to rumors earlier.