Sony sees 70% jump in devices revenues in three years

Japan's loss-making Sony Corp said it's targeting a near 70% jump in revenue for its electronic devices division over the next three years, even as it warned further restructuring is in store for its TV and smartphone units.

Japan's loss-making Sony Corp said it's targeting a near 70% jump in revenue for its electronic devices division over the next three years, even as it warned further restructuring is in store for its TV and smartphone units.

The ambitious plan to hoist revenue at the division housing its growing image sensor business, to between 1.3 trillion yen and 1.5 trillion yen ($11 billion to $12.7 billion), was unveiled at a Sony investors' conference on Tuesday. Sony sees revenue of 890 billion yen at the unit this business year.

All of Sony's consumer electronics divisions combined account for roughly 70% of sales. But mainstream businesses like TVs and smartphones have struggled to keep up with nimbler rivals like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Shares in Sony were up 5%, buoyed by positive analysts' notes ahead of the presentation.

Sony didn't give earnings targets for its smartphone business, the division which has weighed most heavily on results, but said it will issue guidance by the end of March 2015. The company said it would be cutting its smartphone product portfolio and revising sales and marketing strategy by region as it seeks to turn the division around.

It forecast game division sales of between 1.4 trillion yen and 1.6 trillion yen in three years time compared with a prediction of 1.29 trillion yen for the current business year.

It also said plans to improve its operating profit margin for the games division to between 5% and 6% from around 2.7%.

Last month, Sony posted a smaller-than-expected second-quarter operating loss on robust sales of image sensors. The result was hailed by its finance chief as proof that restructuring is paying off, but a poor showing from its own Xperia phones weighed heavily on the results.

In a similar event last week for its entertainment units, the conglomerate said it was aiming to lift its movie and TV programming revenues by a third over the next three years.