Sony Gulf predicts sales to be flat, freezes recruitment

Sony Gulf, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, expects sales to remain flat this year and has frozen recruitment in the Middle East and Africa, said a top executive.

"Last year was a record year for Sony in terms of sales, especially in this region," Osamu Miura, Managing Director of Sony Gulf, told Emirates Business.

"When other parts of the world were feeling the impact of customers' reluctance to spend, the region recorded sales worth $1.4 billion (Dh5.1bn). This year we aim to achieve the same figure. Sony is trying to preserve the business scale by focusing on maintaining the sales figure."

Globally, the company is predicting a 110bn yen (Dh4.2bn) operating loss for the year to March – a second straight year of losses. The global recession is battering demand for the company's consumer electronics products and the firmer yen has hit revenues and made its products less competitive in the overseas markets.

The back-to-back losses will be Sony's first since its listing in 1958.

However, Miura said that Sony was in a better position than other Japanese electronics companies.

He said the company has forecast a smaller-than-expected loss this year, which shows it is making progress with its restructuring programme.

The company plans to close 14 per cent of its 57 manufacturing sites this year – a slightly higher figure than announced previously – as it cuts costs by more than 300bn yen.

Sony plans to reduce its global headcount by 16,000 – 8,000 full-time staff and 8,000 contract workers.

But Miura said there will be no jobs cuts in the Middle East and Africa.

"However, there will be no new staff as there is no plan to expand," he added.

"We will focus on increasing the efficiency of our existing staff. Investment in retailing will be on hold except for 'scrap and build' project."


Sony to enter netbook market

Sony Gulf will announce its first foray into the netbook space and plans to become an aggressive player in the low-cost product segment.

The company's existing small form factor VaioP product is a notebook the size of a netbook that is sold at a higher price point.

"Sony's focus has always been on high-end products but now we want a combination of both product segments," said Osamu Miura.

"The netbooks introduced by Taiwanese companies have eaten into the notebook market share. Netbooks primarily intended for internet use have penetrated into the notebook space. The market is saturated and therefore it is important to expand into new product segments."

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