Sony Corp. announced Wednesday that its operating profit plunged 68.3 percent to 71.75 billion yen in the 2006 business year because of price cuts on the PlayStation 3 and the cost of recalling lithium-ion batteries.
But the company forecasted rosier results for the year to March 2008, thanks to vigorous sales of Bravia flat-screen TVs and semiconductors for video-game consoles.
Sony's group net profit rose slightly to 126.3 billion yen in 2006, up 2.2 percent from the previous year, while pretax profit dropped 64.4 percent to 102 billion yen. Sales hit a record 8.3 trillion yen, up 10.5 percent.