Sony president says still much work to be done

TOKYO: Restructuring at Sony Corp. is progressing faster than originally anticipated but there is still much to be done to revive the electronics company, President Ryoji Chubachi was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

In an interview with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily, Chubachi also said that Sony's earnings had improved beyond projections thanks to factors such as the success of a new liquid crystal display TV brand launched last year.

"I think we've made sizable progress in regaining confidence and improving earnings," he was quoted as saying.

"But in my mind, our reform is still in its early stages."

Shares of Sony were up 0.57 percent at 5,300 yen at 0019 GMT, compared with a 0.15 percent rise in Tokyo's electrical machinery index. Shares of rival Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. were up about 0.6 percent.

In September, newly appointed chief executive Howard Stringer and Chubachi unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan that included the shedding of 10,000 employees, the closure of several plants and the sale of more than $1 billion in non-core assets.

Sony, Japan's second-largest consumer electronics maker after Matsushita, said in January it had completed three out of 11 planned factory closures, sold nearly half of the targeted assets and finished roughly a quarter of the job cuts.

Chubachi told the Nihon Keizai that Sony was on or ahead of schedule for restructuring in the current business year ending this month, and that it may be able to finish plans for the following two years slightly ahead of schedule.

He said Sony was carefully considering additional investment in LCD panel capacity, acknowledging the company needed to make a large investment to take advantage of rapidly growing demand for LCD TVs.

A Sony executive told Reuters earlier this month the company was considering an investment in LCD production and that there was a good possibility it would partner South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. again.

Sony and Samsung formed a $2 billion joint venture in 2004 to mass produce LCD panels for large televisions.

Sony is widely expected to announce plans in the near future to boost LCD output as it needs to secure panels for its new line-up of Bravia brand LCD televisions, which have been selling well since their launch in the latter half of last year.