Sony Corp, which is struggling to bring its electronics division into the black, said on Friday it would appoint Kenichiro Yoshida as new chief financial officer on April 1, replacing Masaru Kato.

The company said the appointment was a planned succession.

"After discussing the matter over the last four months, we decided it would be appropriate to appoint Yoshida at the beginning of the new financial year," said Sony spokeswoman Yo Kikuchi.

"We had already been considering a succession plan and Yoshida had been appointed deputy CFO last December 1."

Yoshida joined the company in 1983 and previously worked for So-net, a Japanese Internet service provider owned by Sony.

Sony expects a loss of 110 billion yen ($1.08 billion) for the year ending March 31.

($1 = 102.1350 Japanese Yen)