Sony set for lower Q3 profit, TV price dip hurts

TOKYO, JAPAN: Japan's Sony Corp is expected to post a 15 percent fall in profit for October-December on Thursday, hurt by a stronger yen and tough price competition in the market for flat TVs.

Rival Panasonic reported a dip in quarterly profit earlier this week, blaming falling prices, especially for TVs, while South Korea's LG Electronics  suffered a loss in the same period and Samsung Electronics booked its lowest profit in six quarters.

The four companies have a combined global share of about 60 percent of the flat-screen TV market by revenue.

The consensus estimate for Sony's quarterly profit was 124.2 billion yen ($1.52 billion) in a poll of 9 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, compared with a 146.1 billion yen profit in the same quarter a year earlier.

The maker of Vaio PCs and PlayStation game consoles forecasts an operating profit of 200 billion yen for the full year to March 31, lower than a consensus estimate of 212.9 billion yen in a poll of 24 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares in Sony have fallen more than 20 percent since reaching an 18-month high of 3,265 yen in March last year, largely reflecting the yen's rise against the dollar JPY= and euro EURJPY=.

Sony's shares were up about 0.7 percent at 2,865 yen ahead of the anouncement, while Panasonic and rival TV-maker Sharp were each down more than 3 percent.