(Telecompaper) Sony announced an impairment charge of JPY 59.6 billion on its camera module business, following a downgrade in the outlook for the business. The writedown of the camera activities represents a major setback for Sony, as this was expected to be a key growth area for the company going forward. Most likely the company is suffering from the overall slowdown in the smartphone market. Sony will take the charge in its results for the fiscal fourth quarter to March 2016. This leads to a drop in its operating profit forecast for the full fiscal year to JPY 290 billion from an outlook in January of JPY 320 billion. At the same time the company raised its annual revenue forecast to JPY 8.1 trillion from JPY 7.9 trillion and the net profit forecast to JPY 145 billion from JPY 140 billion, helped by a gain on the revaluation of tax assets in Japan.