Sony, the Japanese consumer electronics group, said on Thursday that it would plunge to a Y260bn ($2.9bn) operating loss in the year to March 2009 as the global downturn and strong yen wreaked havoc on sales.

The group was expecting an operating profit of Y200bn only last October but Sony made an operating loss during the peak Christmas trading period and slashed its sales forecast by 14 per cent to Y7,700bn.