![]() The Tokyo-based company is increasingly relying on its video games business, which generated twice as much income in the last fiscal year as film. “The decline in the DVD and Blue-ray market was faster than we anticipated,” Takashi Iida, a Sony spokesman said by phone. Shares listed in Germany fell 2.6% in light-volume trading after the statement was published. Sony shares closed little changed in Tokyo prior to the announcement. “That said, with Lynton’s departure and this writedown, all the bad news is out and the attention can turn on their plan for the coming fiscal year.” “There has been a suspicion in the market that Sony doesn’t have a firm grip on the movie business, but still the amount is a surprise,” said Kazunori Ito, an analyst at Morningstar Investment Services. Sony warned in June the division was at a risk of posting more losses. The studio has struggled recently, including with last year’s Ghostbusters sequel and a movie based on the Angry Birds video game. The announcement comes two weeks after Sony said the chief executive officer of Sony Entertainment, Michael Lynton, is stepping down after a 13-year run. To offset part of the loss, the company also said it would sell shares in the medical web service M3 Inc to Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s Japan unit, in a deal worth about ¥37bn. The company said it would book the charge in the fiscal third quarter and is examining how that will affect its forecasts. On Tuesday, Maersk shares fell 1.4 percent to 13,420 Danish crowns.Sony Corp said it will take a ¥112bn ($1bn) writedown in its movie business after reviewing the future profitability of its operations. Maersk Oil is one of five main Maersk business divisions, alongside the world's biggest container-shipping company Maersk Line, port-operator APM Terminals, rig-company Maersk Drilling and Maersk Tankers. The company now spends $3 and $5 billion a year developing new fields in Qatar, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Britain. Group oil production has fallen since 2005 as older North Sea fields decline. Maersk received an average of 4,219 bpd from its 40 percent of Polvo in May, less than 2 pct of 2013 output. Maersk has a target of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2020. "I think that strategy is being questioned today," Hoyer said. "This is more a question of how to assess Maersk's ability to succeed in the oil sector," Hoyer said. Smedegaard Andersen described Itaipu and Wahoo's appraisal results as "clearly unsatisfactory." Jyske Bank analyst Frans Hoyer questioned the company's longer-term oil ambitions. The writedown didn't affect the Maersk Group's guidance for an underlying profit of about $4 billion in 2014. Since then stagnant oil production, increased government control and regulatory uncertainty have undermined the value of the country's oil resources and the shares of Brazilian oil companies such as state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA. Such costs have helped cool a Brazilian offshore oil boom that began with the 2007 announcement of giant, offshore fields near Rio. BP declined to comment, Anadarko and IBV officials could not be reached for comment. The CEO said Maersk's move comes as Brazilian exploration and production costs soar. "In addition, the expectation for the price of oil back in 2011 was more optimistic than today." "There was significantly less oil than we had expected," Chief Executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen told reporters on a conference call. ![]() If Maersk's assessment of Itaipu and Wahoo is correct, its Brazilian retreat could be followed by its partners in the areas: Britain's BP Plc, U.S.-based Anadarko Petroleum Co and India's IBV Brasil SA, a joint venture between Videocon Industries Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp. On Tuesday, Brazil's HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA said it bought Maersk's 40 percent Polvo stake for an undisclosed sum. Maersk bought the assets from South Korea's SK Energy Co Ltd for $2.4 billion in 2011. The write off affects two exploration areas, Itaipu and Wahoo, which failed to deliver on oil volume expectations, and the Polvo field, both northeast of Rio de Janeiro in the Campos Basin, Maersk said. Moller-Maersk moved to shrink its Brazilian petroleum operations on Tuesday, selling its stake in its only producing Brazilian oilfield and saying it will write off $1.7 billion of investments in the country. Moller-Maersk says it will take an impairment charge of $1.7 billion on the book value of Maersk Oil's Brazilian assets.ĬOPENHAGEN/RIO DE JANEIRO, July 8 (Reuters) - Danish oil and shipping group A.P.
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