Sony’s quarterly earnings surged more than sevenfold, boosted by blockbuster movie releases, cost cuts and its mainstay consumer electronics business returning to the black.
The Japanese manufacturing icon, known for gadgets like its PlayStation 3 game console, on Thursday said its net profit for the October-to-December quarter jumped to ¥79.2 billion (US$871 million) from ¥10.4 billion a year earlier.
Sales rose 4 percent to ¥2.24 trillion on robust revenue from movies, personal computers and financial services.
Sony said it benefited from strong worldwide theater releases such as 2012 and Michael Jackson’s This Is It, as well as home DVD sales of titles like Angels & Demons.
Since taking over in 2005, Sony chief executive Howard Stringer has been trying to unite the company’s sprawling business, improve efficiency and rein in costs.
The maker of Bravis TVs and Cyber-shot cameras credited the ongoing restructuring and better currency exchange rates for driving its consumer products and devices division into the black.
Sony swung to an operating profit, which is generally seen as the best indication of a company’s pure business performance, of ¥146.1 billion. The Tokyo-based company booked an operating loss of ¥18 billion a year earlier.
The company’s PC business also did well, in large part due to higher sales of Vaio computers.
Overall demand for gaming consoles declined mainly due to lower sales of the PlayStation 2 and PSP portable device. But PlayStation 3 sales jumped more than 40 percent to 6.5 million units during the quarter, Sony said.
Sales of the PlayStation 3 surged to US record in December after a 25 percent price cut ahead of the key holiday shopping season. Until the cut, the console lagged behind its rivals in large part because it came with a bigger price tag.
Sony trimmed its forecast of losses for the fiscal year ending next month.
It now expects a net loss of ¥70 billion, a 22 percent improvement from its previous loss forecast of ¥95 billion. It predicts an operating loss of ¥30 billion instead of a ¥60 billion loss it forecast in October.
In trading yesterday, Sony shares fell 2.2 percent to ¥3,075, while the Nikkei 225 stock index lost 0.5 percent.
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