Sony upgrades profit outlook on strong Q1 performance

Sony upgraded its full-year profit forecast Wednesday on the back of a strong quarterly performance, although the pandemic boom enjoyed by the gaming sector is slowing.

The Japanese conglomerate said solid earnings in its music and consumer electronics businesses offset a first-quarter operating profit decline in the gaming sector.

A box-office triumph for the anime epic “Demon Slayer”, distributed by Sony’s animation unit Aniplex, also boosted its better-than-expected quarterly results.

Sony Group now predicts a net profit of 700 billion yen ($6.4 billion) for the fiscal year to March 2022, up from its earlier estimate of 660 billion yen.

For the three months to June, net profit rose 9.4 percent to 211.8 billion yen, Sony said. Its annual sales forecast was unchanged at 9.7 trillion yen after first-quarter sales gained 15.0 percent to 2.26 trillion yen.

“This result showed the advantage of a conglomerate -- strong sectors can offset weakening ones,” he said.