That compares with a net profit of 22 billion yen, or $173 million, last year.

Sony said that it expected a net profit of 88 billion yen or $813 million.

For the same period a year earlier, the company reported a net profit of 18.15 billion yen.

That compares with a net profit of 31.2 billion yen in 1992.

In last year's first half, the company posted a profit of 43.5 billion yen.

It forecast a lower profit of 65 billion yen for this year.

The company said is expected to report a profit of 5.5 billion yen ($44 million) for the period.

That was more than 17 times the tiny profit of 354 million yen in the previous year.

It reported a profit of 101.19 billion yen for the nine months.

In the last fiscal year the company posted a profit of 2.6 billion yen, or $25 million.