Sony surprises with record profit
Japan’s Sony Corp surprised the market by reporting on Tuesday a record first-quarter operating profit despite the slowing gaming business, as strong demand for multiple-lens camera systems for smartphones boosted sales of image sensors.
Sony is benefitting from sales of more powerful smartphones at customers including Huawei Technologies, offsetting gaming weakness as its almost six-year old PlayStation 4 console nears the end of its life and the cost to develop a next-generation console rises.
“Our image sensor sales have been growing independently of the smartphone market growth” thanks to smartphone makers’ adoption of multiple-lens cameras and large-size image sensors, Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki told an earnings briefing. “Our production facilities have been operating at full capacity.”
The electronics firm posted an operating profit of 230.93 billion yen ($2.1 billion) for the April-June quarter, up 18.4 percent from a year earlier and overshooting a consensus estimate of 173.61 billion yen from eight analysts compiled by Refinitiv.
The company, which has had two straight years of record profits, maintained its profit forecast for the year ending March at 810 billion yen.
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