TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp (6758.T) said it would invest about $17 billion in key businesses and technologies over the next three years as it aims for the top spot in the LCD TV market and ramps up sales of high-definition video equipment.
The company, which sells PlayStation 3 game consoles and Cyber-shot digital cameras, said it would also aim to double revenue from the fast-growing markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China to 2 trillion yen ($18.5 billion) as part of a new three-year strategy through March 2011.
It wants to lift return on equity (ROE) to 10 percent from an average of about 6 percent over the past three years, and reach the 5 percent operating profit margin that eluded it in a previous plan, coming in at 4.2 percent in the year ended March.
Sony's current ROE is very low compared with global rivals such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS), which boasts 14 percent, and Philips Electronics NV (PHG.AS), which registers 23 percent, according to Reuters data.
"That target is a sign of Sony's sense of crisis that it could really become a takeover target if it doesn't lift its ROE to at least over 10 percent," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.
Of the planned 1.8 trillion yen it aims to invest over the next three years, about half would go to its component and semiconductor operations -- which span image sensors, batteries, display devices and Blu-ray Disc-related parts.
The company said it would aim to bring its TV business back to profitability in the year to March 2009 by cutting production costs, and shoot for the biggest global share in LCD TVs, unseating current market leader Samsung.
The company, locked in a three-way battle with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS) in the global videogame industry, will launch video distribution services on its PlayStation network starting this summer, it said.
Sony last month posted a quarterly loss after a weak stock market ate into the value of securities held by its financial arm, but forecast 20 percent profit growth this year.
Ahead of Thursday's announcement, shares in Sony closed up 2.9 percent at 5,060 yen, against a 0.1 percent fall on the benchmark Nikkei average (.N225).
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Nathan Layne and Aiko Hayashi; Editing by Brent Kininmont and Hugh Lawson)
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