Sensors propel Sony’s profit

Sony booked a record first-quarter profit on Tuesday, taking the company one step towards its highest annual result in two decades.

Sony booked a record firstquarter profit on Tuesday, taking the firm one step towards its highest annual result in two decades, as smartphone makers demand more of its image sensors for high-end handsets sporting twin rear cameras.

But Sony cut its annual image sensor sales estimate slightly as Chinese smartphone clients shift to cheaper alternatives for lower-priced handsets. It also previously forecast a dip in sales of its mainstay yet maturing PlayStation 4 games console.

“When we marked strong earnings 10 years ago or 20 years ago, we always suffered sharp setbacks in the following year and onwards,” chief financial officer Kenichiro Yoshida said. “We will keep going with a sense of pressure.”

The Japanese conglomerate has been restructuring after price competition in its consumer electronics business dragged down profit growth.

CEO Kazuo Hirai refocused Sony on games and sensors and, in a vote of confidence, its share price has risen about 40% in 2017, touching a nine-year high.

The box-office success of its Spider-Man: Homecoming film has fuelled hopes of a rise in earnings for Sony’s movies business, which is still working through a restructuring plan.

With its new strength, Sony is making acquisitions. On Monday, it said it had bought most of the distributor of the Englishlanguage versions of animations Dragon Ball Z and One Piece.

On Tuesday, Sony said operating profit rose almost threefold in the three months to June to ¥157.61bn ($1.43bn), bettering its first-quarter record by 30%, and beating analyst estimates by a similar degree.

The surge mainly reflected recovery in image sensors from earthquake damage sustained a year ago, Sony said.