Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

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Sony warned - taking a big hit...

JAPAN's stock market may collapse tonight.....

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Sony Corp. (SNE or 6758) Thursday reported surprisingly weak earnings for the year just ended and presented a bearish outlook for the year ahead as it pledged to continue restructuring.

Group operating profit rose 38% in the year ended March 31 to Y185.44 billion, boosted by cost-cutting at its core electronics division, robust growth in movie revenue and solid returns from games. This growth came despite a 1.4% drop in revenue to Y7.474 trillion.

But the results were far below the company's January estimate for operating profit of Y280 billion and analysts' expectations for Y250 billion to Y290 billion.

"This is certainly a negative surprise," said a fund manager at a Japanese asset management company, who expects investors to sell Sony's stock Friday.