Sony shrugs off hack attack as it trims full-year loss forecast to $1.4bn

Corporation benefits from strong sales of gaming consoles and other devices

Son said it was the victim of one of 'most vicious and malicious' attacks of its kind (Reuters )

Sony Corp. trimmed its forecast of losses on Wednesday and said it doesn't expect the hack at Sony Pictures to hurt its finances overall.

The entertainment and electronics giant delayed the announcement of its earnings for the October-December quarter, citing internal difficulties arising from the hack at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

But it issued new earnings forecasts for the fiscal year ending in March and said it was benefiting from strong sales of gaming consoles, other devices and network services.

The company reported a 40 billion yen loss last fiscal year.

It said stronger than expected sales of the PlayStation 4, higher network services revenue, robust sales of devices and a slight improvement in its financial services business will help counter a decline in its mobile business.

Both Sony's music and movies businesses benefited from a weakening in the Japanese yen, which improves profit earned in dollars when it is brought back to Japan.

AP