Sony to decide on review of earnings after battery recalls

Hit by battery recalls from a number of laptop makers, Sony has said that it would review its full-year earnings after recalling 60,000 batteries used in some of its Vaio notebook computers sold in Japan.

So far laptop makers Hitachi Corporation, Dell, Apple, Toshiba, Lenovo and Fujitsu have already recalled Sony seven million Sony batteries globally.

The recalls followed evidence that, in certain circumstances, the batteries could catch fire on overheating. Sony said the batteries could fuse because pieces of metal were left in their cells during the manufacturing process in Japan.

Sony says the battery recalls were prompted by concerns for the peace of mind of its customers. Moreover, the company has been hit further by a cut in the price of its video game console, PlayStation 3.

In a statement Sony said it was in the process of "determining whether a revision to our annual earnings outlook is necessary". Sony said it was taking into account "factors that could affect earnings".

Prior to the recall of its batteries, Sony had stated in July that it expected group operating profit to total ¥130 billion ($1.1 billion;Rs5,010 crore) in the year to March, down 43 per cent from a year earlier.