Sony pledged yesterday to bring its troubled video game and television businesses into profit in the coming year and forecast a stronger than expected 20 per cent jump in annual earnings.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment group, which has missed several sales and profit goals during the three-year tenure of Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive, including a 5 per cent operating margin target last year, said operating profits would rise to Y450bn ($4.3bn) in the 12 months to next March.