Sony Corp. reported a 112.4 billion yen consolidated operating profit in the first half of fiscal 1999, down 45.1 percent from the same period last year, company officials announced Wednesday.
The major electronics company attributed the downturn to the yen's appreciation, the officials said.
For the April-September period, Sony posted 132.8 billion yen in group pretax profit, down 32.1 percent from the same period last year, and 64.9 billion yen in group net profit, down 24.5 percent.
Group sales were 3.1 trillion yen, down 7.6 percent from the same period the previous year.
On a parent-only basis, Sony emerged with an operating profit of 16.5 billion yen, down 71.1 percent from the same period last year, and 32.4 billion yen in a pretax profit, down 59.1 percent. Total sales were 1.3 trillion yen, for a drop of 1.4 percent compared with the same period last year.
During the July-September quarter, consolidated net profit rose 3.1 percent from the same period last year to 46.5 billion yen, due to a reduction in the corporate tax rate, company officials said.