Sony’s profit soars on strong sales
Video games drive sales at PlayStation, prompting Sony to upgrade earnings forecasts Sony’s PlayStation posted the highest results out of the company’s units.
TOKYO— Sony Corp. reported another strong quarter of earnings, buoyed by stable sales of electronics hardware, strength in its PlayStation videogame business and demand for smartphone camera components.
For the April-June period, the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate reported net profit of ¥226.4 billion ($2.04 billion) on 1.95 trillion yen ($17.55 billion U.S.) in revenue, compared with net profit of 80.9 billion yen on 1.86 trillion yen in revenue in the same quarter last year.
Sony’s fiscal first-quarter earnings were also lifted by the sale of part of its stake in Spotify Technology SA. Its operating profit rose to 195 billion yen from157.6 billion yen a year earlier.
The results suggest that Sony’s new chief executive, Kenichiro Yoshida, remains on track to maintain high profit levels.
Sony posted record operating profit for the fiscal year ended March, and Mr. Yoshida has said that the company would focus on keeping the level stable.
During the first quarter, all of Sony’s units, except movies and smartphones, recorded operat- ing profits, with the PlayStation business posting the highest, at 83.5 billion yen. Its semiconductor unit also reported strong sales, thanks to robust demand for Sony’s image sensors, a core component in smartphone cameras.
Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said at a press conference that hit games, including “God of War,” released in April, pushed up both software and hardware sales in the PlayStation business, prompting Sony to upgrade its earnings forecasts.
For the fiscal year ending next March, Sony said it expects record net profit of 500 billion yen on 8.6 trillion yen in revenue, up from a forecast in April of 480 billion yen net profit on 8.3 trillion yen in revenue.
Sony expects the PlayStation unit to generate 250 billion yen in operating profit, up from 190 billion yen in the prior forecast.
The company’s weak spot remains its smartphone business, which lags well behind Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy series. Sony’s smartphone unit recorded an operating loss of 10.8 billion yen for the latest quarter. For the fiscal year, the company expects a loss of 30 billion yen but Mr. Totoki said the business division is being overhauled and warned further downgrades are possible.