Stefan Mileschin

Troubled electronics outfit Sony has said that its first-quarter operating profit slid from a year earlier.

The company said that it is suffering from the fact that no one wants its tellies or other devices.

In the three months to 30 June, Sony posted a 77 percent fall in operating profit to $80.27 million. This is well below estimates from Wall Street analysts polled by Reuters.

Tragically, Sony needed a significant improvement in its figures. They were supposed to give investors an idea of what Sony's new boss, Kazuo Hirai, was going to do.

He took over Sony in April, vowing to turnaround the struggling company by spurring profit growth from cameras, gaming and mobile devices.

However it is starting to look like turning around the company is a bit like stopping a rabid elephant from charging over a cliff.

To be fair it is not really his fault. Not only did he inherit a company which needed a bit of work, Sony is particularly vulnerable to the European debt crisis.

Yuuki Sakurai, CEO of Fukoku Capital Management, the asset management unit of Japan's Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance, said that he was not too worried about the US dollar but it was the Eurozone which was keeping him awake at nights.

He said that Hirai was in a tough position, and he did not envy him.

The incredible evaporating value of the euro hurts all Japanese companies that sell their goods and services in Europe, but Sony is more sensitive to yen swings against the common currency than its local peers.

Sony's European sales account for a fifth of all revenue compared with a tenth at both Panasonic and Sharp.

http://news.techeye.net/hardware/son...nues-its-slide