Sony posts net profit of $1.55 billion between April-June

Tokyo, Aug 4 (EFE).- Sony Corporation’s net income attributable to shareholders per share of common stock increased by 8.9 percent year-on-year to 169.22 billion yen ($1.55 billion) between April and June, a slower growth compared to previous quarters due to a slowing down of its pandemic-fueled sales of video games.

The company’s operating income rose to 280.1 billion yen, 26.3 percent more than during the same quarter a year ago, according to a financial report released on Wednesday.

Sony’s sales between April and June, the first quarter of Japan’s fiscal year, grew 15 percent to 2.26 trillion yen, driven by a 44 percent growth in its music division due to an increase in revenue from paid subscription streaming services and ad-supported music streaming.

Sony’s gaming division recorded a slight 2 percent increase in sales between April and June due to a decline in sales of non-first-party titles including add-on content and downloadable content (DLC) for games for its PlayStation 4 (PS4) and PlayStation 5 (PS5) consoles.

This division’s operating profit recorded a sharp fall of 32.8 percent during the quarter, mainly due to losses resulting from setting the strategic price point for PS5 hardware lower than its manufacturing costs.

The company’s electronics division grew by a robust 59 percent on account of increased sales of televisions, cameras and audio and video devices.

Sony improved its forecasts for the fiscal year, which will end on Mar. 31 2022, and expects to record a net income of 700 billion yen – a year-on-year decrease of 40.2 percent – an operating profit of 980 billion yen – a year-on-year decline of 2.6 percent – and sales of 9.7 trillion yen – an increase of 7.8 percent. EFE

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