Sony reports smaller annual losses

Sony has reported a loss of 40.8bn yen ($437m; £294m) for the year to the end of March, less than half the loss it made the previous year.

The Japanese electronics giant lost 98.9bn yen a year earlier, its first annual loss in 14 years.

The improvement was largely down to heavy cost cutting.

The company said it expects sales of 3D televisions and games to help it make a profit of 50bn yen in the year to end of March 2011.

Revenue for the year to March fell by almost 7% to 7.21 trillion yen.

Consumer product sales fell by 20%, partly because a strong yen made Sony's goods more expensive overseas.

The company's mobile phone division, Sony Ericsson, also suffered, with sales falling by 37%.

These falls were partly offset by increased sales at the company's music and financial services businesses.

The results were roughly in line with analysts expectations, but Sony's predictions about the future were seen as disappointing.

"There wasn't a big surprise but one worrisome thing is that the forecast figures were below expectations," said Seiichiro Iwamoto at Mizuho Asset Management in Tokyo.