TOKYO — Sony said Thursday its fiscal first-quarter net loss widened to ¥24.6 billion ($313.5 million). It cut its profit forecast for the year as the struggling Japanese firm overhauls its business.

 

The consumer electronics and entertainment giant's latest loss dwarfed the ¥15.5 billion shortfall it reported in the same period a year ago.

 

Quarterly revenue rose 1.4 percent to ¥1.51 trillion and the company said it squeezed out an operating profit of ¥6.28 billion.

 

Sony also said it now expected a ¥20 billion full-year profit, down from an earlier projection of ¥30 billion for the year through March 2013.

 

In April, Sony said it would cut about 10,000 jobs and spend nearly $1.0 billion on an overhaul that its new chief Kazuo Hirai described as "urgent."

 

Sony has vowed a return to the black after losing ¥456.66 billion in the year to March, its fourth consecutive annual loss.

 

The losses have been particularly acute in Sony's television business, where Japanese electronics firms have been hurt by a strong yen, shrinking profit margins and stiff competition from foreign rivals.

 

Piracy has threatened its music and film assets while Sony was also hurt by last year's quake-tsunami disaster. — Agence France-Presse