Sony back in black on cheap yen, healthier sales

A customer visits a Tokyo electronics store to check out Sony’s Bravia 4K flat-panel TVs in Tokyo, Thursday, May 9, 2013. Sony Corp. is back in the black for the fiscal fourth quarter, recording a 93.9 billion yen ($948 million) profit, with big help from a weaker yen that boosts overseas earnings. AP photo

TOKYO  — Sony Corp. is back in the black for the fiscal fourth quarter, recording a 93.9 billion yen ($948 million) profit, with big help from a weaker yen that boosts overseas earnings.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment company sank to a 255.2 billion yen loss the same period the previous year, slammed by its money-losing TV business and competition from rivals Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

Quarterly sales rose 8 percent to 1.7 trillion yen ($17 billion), mainly from a favorable currency rate.

A weak yen helps Japanese exporters, and the dollar has gained 20 percent against the yen in recent months.

Tokyo-based Sony expects the recovery to continue, and projected Thursday a 50 billion yen ($505 million) profit for the fiscal year through March 2014, up 16 percent.