Sony slips into the red

Sony has made a loss of £74.7m for the quarter ended last month.

This compares with Sony's £13bn profits for the same quarter last year.

Profits were poor, especially in Sony's electronics business, where dropping demand and severe price competition from the rest of Asia have hurt the Japanese.

Sony lost sales in its electronics and music sectors but made gains in its video-game and film units.

For the quarter ending in September, Sony's sales totalled £10.1bn, up nearly 6% from last year.

Sales of personal computers and TVs lagged in Japan, while displays and video camera sales were down in the United States.

Video cameras, displays and PCs didn't sell well in Europe, Sony said.

In the game business, sales doubled to £1.4bn compared last year on the back of strong sales of PlayStation 2 machines and games in Europe and the United States.

Worldwide shipments of the PlayStation 2 totaled 4.62 million for the quarter, making for a total shipment of 19.6 million machines so far.

In the music business, sales dipped 5%. Best sellers included Macy Gray's "The Id" and Jamiroquai's "A Funk Odyssey." Music sales were also helped by a weakening yen, which boosts the value of overseas earnings for Japan's exporters.

Sales in the movie sector rose about 30% on the box-office success of "America's Sweethearts," as well as the popularity of movies from the previous quarter such as "Vertical Limit."