Good job that Sony doesn’t major in calculators. The Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate admitted on Thursday that its annual operating profit forecast – made three months ago – was out by a whopping $5bn. It is now projecting an operating loss, the first in 14 years, of nearly $3bn in the year to March. This implies a $3.6bn loss in the fourth quarter, suggesting the company is bleeding about $40m a day.

The reasons are well-rehearsed. First, there is the yen, which has been trading well above Sony’s assumptions. Then there is the business climate. Much of the swing in the electronics division’s forecast profits is due to “deterioration in the business environment”, for which read fewer sales at lower prices. These will, for example, lop $170m off the games unit’s operating income. Sony’s response is equally predictable: fire a load of staff and raise the cost-cutting target, although to an amount that still falls short of forecast losses. It also confirmed that it may move all TV production in Japan to one plant.