Dubai: Sony Mobile confirmed on Monday that it is monitoring the market situation and reviewing its business feasibility in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey.
Rumours have been flooding the market that Sony Mobile is closing down its offices and operations in those regions.
“As part of our ongoing measures to drive profitable growth, we are carefully monitoring the market situation and reviewing our business feasibility in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey,” Gita Ghaemmaghami, Marketing Communications Manager for the Middle East and Africa at Sony Mobile, told Gulf News.
Mobile phone sales have been a big drag on the company’s profit due to falling sales globally and according to the research firm IHS Markit, Sony had a global market share of one per cent in 2017 by selling 13.7 million devices, which was little changed from 1.1 per cent a year before.
Sony Mobile is forecasting sales revenue of 640 billion yen (Dh21 billion) in fiscal 2018 compared to 723.7 billion yen in 2017 and 759.1 biillion yen in 2016.
According to the company’s website, it sold 14.6 million smartphones in 2016, 13.5 million units in 2017 and forecast 10 million units in 2018.
For the business year ended March 31, Sony Corp registered a net profit record for the first time in 10 years, a five-fold increase from the previous year.
Ghaemmaghami said that like any other company, Sony Mobile is also studying the market and this is following the latest appointment of the new Sony Mobile’s CEO Mitsuya Kishida, who took charge as new CEO in April from Hiroki Totoki.
“We will take the necessary measures in each region based on their profitability and specific issues. We will enact the necessary policies to transform our business into a more muscular structure,” Kishida said recently.
Ghaemmaghami added: “The mobile division is not profitable currently due to several factors. We just started the assessment plan recently and are measuring our markets. I cannot confirm whether we are closing or not closing.”
— By Naushad K. Cherrayil, Staff Reporter
