Sony blames Thailand floods in forecast $1.1bn loss

JAPANESE ELECTRONICS GIANT Sony has cut its financial forecast with the firm expecting to take a $1.1bn loss for its latest fiscal quarter.

Sony followed technology outfits Panasonic and Nintendo by announcing a disappointing financial forecast, with the firm laying the blame on the devastating floods in Thailand. According to Sony, those floods cut 25bn yen from its expected earnings, while the firm reduced the number of televisions it expected to sell by nine million to 20 million.

In even worse news, Sony took a machete to its profit forecast for the fiscal year, slashing it by 90 per cent to just 49.5bn yen. That, according to Reuters, will be Sony's lowest profit in three years.

Sony's television division is the midst of major restructuring, with the company trying to split the division into three parts. The move came after what is expected to be eight straight years of losses at Sony's TV division, something that firm claims it will turn around by March 2014.

Sony has suffered a disastrous 2011. The firm's brand took a beating after its Playstation Network was hacked by Anonymous, with millions of users' data disappearing into the ether, and the firm has simply been unable to come up with killer products like it used to.

While Sony tries to restructure its television division and buyout Ericsson from its smartphone partnership, the firm's share price has been taking a battering, seeing its value almost cut in half in 2011. µ