Sony says restructuring to end this year, targets profit surge

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp's chief executive said the company would complete a stepped-up restructuring drive in the current fiscal year to next March as the consumer electronics maker forecast a tripling in operating profit for next year. Kazuo Hirai told a news conference on Thursday the company's two consecutive years of net losses was "very serious" and fell short of shareholders' expectations, acknowledging the company had responded too slowly to changes in the business environment. The company said it would aim for an operating profit of 400 billion yen (2.33 billion pounds) in the 2015/16 fiscal year, up from its target of 140 billion for the current 2014/15 year. (Reporting by Reiji Murai and Sophie Knight; Writing by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)