Japan's electronic giants plunged into the red in April-June after the March earthquake and tsunami hit production, as weaker sales and a strong yen pushed down profit forecasts, they said Thursday.

Sony, Panasonic, Fujitsu and Sharp slumped to losses in a quarter that saw companies scramble to restore production facilities and component supply chains to revive halted output after the disasters that left 20,000 dead or missing.

While Japanese firms, particularly automakers, have staged a quicker-than-expected recovery from the disasters, the rise of the yen amid anxiety over US and European debt threatens to erode exporters' earnings.

Nintendo, under intense pressure from the growing smartphone gaming space, slumped to a 25.5 billion yen ($327.9 million) quarterly loss, drastically cut its profit forecast and slashed the price of its 3DS console by 40 percent less than six months after its launch.

Sony, which is also reeling from a massive data breach on its online networks, revised down a May forecast for its annual net profit by 25 percent due to weak TV sales, also citing the rise of the yen versus the beleaguered euro.

Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato said the TV business -- a long-time laggard -- suffered from economic weakness in the US and Europe, exposing the company to foreign exchange pressures in highly competitive markets.

"The euro is still an issue for us," he said, adding that Sony would continue trying to move more operations out of Japan, where possible, as part of a 20-year trend. Its shares are trading at their lowest levels since March 2009.

The March disaster ravaged Japan's northeast coast and left some 20,000 dead or missing.

The tsunami crippled a nuclear power plant, leading to reactor meltdowns and power shortages that along with supply chain problems sent Japanese production levels plunging as the economy tipped into a technical recession.

Sony slipped to a 15.5 billion yen ($191 million) net loss in April-June, the quarter in which it was also hit by hacking attacks that compromised 100 million accounts on its PlayStation and other networks.

The figure compared to a 25.7 billion yen profit in the same period a year ago.

The Tokyo-based maker of PlayStation consoles and Bravia television sets was forced to shutter plants in Japan after the March quake and tsunami disaster battered supply chains, damaged facilities and dampened consumer demand.

It lowered its May forecast for an 80 billion yen net profit in the current fiscal year ending March 2012 to 60 billion yen.

Osaka-based Panasonic left unchanged its annual forecast issued in June, still expecting to post a net profit of 30 billion yen this fiscal year to March 2012, down from 74 billion yen a year earlier.

But the firm, which is looking to streamline its business by reducing staff numbers and sell off appliance makers held by subsidiary Sanyo, swung to a net loss of 30.4 billion yen in April-June compared with a net profit of 43.7 billion yen a year earlier.

Sharp Corp. said it suffered a 49.3 billion yen loss for the three months compared with a net profit of 10.7 billion yen a year earlier.

Fujitsu, which provides information technology services and also makes computers and cellphones, booked a net loss of 20.4 billion yen, a sharp drop from net profit of 1.6 billion yen in the same period last year.

Sales and profits fell "mainly due to earthquake-related delays to contracts, deliveries and the procurement of certain parts and components," Fujitsu said.

The company said the strong yen reduced sales by 17 billion yen, despite dollar-denominated profit increases in the US market.

Struggling Nintendo books loss, slashes 3DS price
Tokyo (AFP) July 28, 2011 - Japan's Nintendo Thursday reported a first-quarter loss, lowered its annual forecast and slashed the price of its 3DS handheld console by 40 percent less than six months after its launch.

The gaming giant booked a net loss of 25.5 billion yen ($327.9 million) for the April-June quarter and cut its forecast for the year to March 2012 to a net profit of 20 billion yen, down 74.2 percent from the previous year.

Nintendo also said it would slash the price of its 3DS handheld console, released in February, from 25,000 yen to 15,000 yen from August 11 in Japan, to be followed by similar cuts in foreign markets by September.

The 3DS, the world's first video game console with a 3-D screen that works without special glasses, globally sold 710,000 units and 4.53 million game titles during the period.

Its price will be lowered to generate "momentum" for the device before the key year-end shopping season, Nintendo said.

Meanwhile, the Wii home console sold 1.56 million units, thanks mainly to price cuts in the European and US markets. But the Wii business also suffered from having a limited number of mega hit game titles.

In the first quarter, Kyoto-based Nintendo -- which like other game makers faces stiff competition from smart phones and tablet computers -- said a limited number of megahit game titles and a soaring yen hurt its earnings.

A surging yen against the dollar, the inventory markdown due to the planned price cuts, global advertisement and promotional costs for the 3DS, plus research and development costs for new products, also weighed on the earnings.

The company lowered its exchange rate projections for the dollar from 83 yen to 80 yen and for the euro from 120 yen to 115 yen. In the first quarter last year, the company valued the dollar at an average of 92 yen.

"These factors considerably decreased profits," Nintendo said.

Nintendo in June announced a plan to launch a "Wii U" console in 2012, as the global game sector becomes increasingly crowded with competitors.

Traditional gaming rivals such as Sony with its PlayStation and Microsoft with the XBox have been joined in the fray by smartphones and tablet computers, including Apple's iPhone and iPad.

The existing Wii console has sold 87.6 million units since its 2006 debut, but has seen a steady decline in recent years.

Along with cutting its annual net profit forecast, Nintendo reduced its operating profit projection to 35 billion yen, down 79.5 percent from a year ago. Sales are expected to fall 11.3 percent to 900 billion yen.

"The earnings forecast has been modified to reflect the trends of stronger than expected yen appreciation and sales performance, and the decided price deduction of the Nintendo 3DS hardware, and the sales outlook for the holiday season," it said.

Nintendo avoided direct damage to its factories and production network by the earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan on March 11, but experts have cautioned about the disaster's impact on consumer confidence.

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