BENGALURU: Sony Corporation (Sony) reported a 1.9 percent or ¥5.5 billion decline in consolidated operating income for the fiscal ended 31 March 2017 (FY-17, current year) as compared to FY-16. The company says that this was mainly due to the US$962 million (¥112.1 billion yen) impairment charge of goodwill recorded in the Pictures segment, substantially offset by an improvement in the operating results of the Mobile Communications (MC) segment and an increase in the operating income of the Game & Network Services (G&NS) segment.
Due to the revision, Sony says that it was determined that the entire amount of goodwill, in the Production & Distribution reporting unit of the Pictures segment, which includes the Motion Pictures business, was impaired and an operating loss was recorded in the Pictures segment, says the company.
Sony’s Pictures segment is comprised of the Motion Pictures, Television Productions, and Media Networks categories.
Sales for the Pictures segment decreased 3.7 percent in FY-17 (a 5 percent increase on a U.S. dollar basis) to ¥903.1 billion, primarily due to the impact of the appreciation of the yen against the U.S. dollar. The increase in sales on a US dollar basis was primarily due to higher sales for Television Productions and Media Networks. Sales for Television Productions increased primarily due to higher subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) licensing revenues. The increase in sales for Media Networks was due to higher advertising and subscription revenues mainly in India, Latin America and the US says the company.
The Pictures segment's reported operating loss of ¥80.5 billion, compared to operating income of ¥38.5 billion in the previous fiscal year. This significant deterioration in operating results was primarily due to the above-mentioned 962 million U.S. dollars (¥112.1 billion) impairment charge of goodwill. The operating results for the Pictures segment were also negatively impacted by higher programming and marketing expenses for Media Networks as well as higher theatrical marketing expenses for Motion Pictures.
Sony's consolidated sales and operating revenue decreased by 6.2 percent to ¥7,603.3 billion compared to the previous fiscal year’s ¥8,105.7 billion. This decrease was mainly due to the impact of foreign exchange rates says the company.
Net income attributable to Sony Corporation’s stockholders, which deducts net income attributable to non-controlling interests, decreased ¥74.5 billion to ¥73.3 billion yen in FY-17 from ¥ 147.8 billion in the previous year.
