Sony predicts TV and game profits

Sony boss Howard Stringer outlined his strategy at a news conference

Sony has said how it will make its television and video game units profitable this financial year as part of a series of strategic announcements.

It will cut production costs in its TV business this year and make investments aimed at taking over the top spot in LCD TV sales in the next three years.

The maker of PlayStation consoles plans to offer a film download service for the PlayStation 3 starting this summer.

Sony unexpectedly made a loss of 4.7bn yen ($45m; �23m) in the first quarter.

It plans to invest about $17bn (�8.6bn) in its key businesses over the next three years.

Sony is also attempting to improve dramatically its return on equity (ROE), which is its profits divided by the total value of all its shares.

Sony's ROE has been an average of 6% over the past three years, which is well behind its competitors, so it now aims to lift its ROE to 10%.

"That target is a sign of Sony's sense of crisis that it could really become a takeover target if it doesn't lift its ROE to at least over 10%," said Mitsushige Akino from Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

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