Sony Corp on Thursday said it does not plan to sell its pictures business after suffering a $1 billion writedown, and instead aims to turn it around by adding sales channels and making more use of movie characters. "We believe in long-term upside potential for pictures," Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida said at an earnings briefing, reiterating that Sony continues to regard the business as important to the group. The pictures writedown, brought about by a shrinking market for movies on disc, prompted Sony to cut 11 percent off the group's full-year operating profit outlook to 240 billion yen.