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Sony Reports Surprise Profit in First Quarter
The $206 million net profit defied analysts’ expectations for a loss due to weak image-sensor sales
By TAKASHI MOCHIZUKI
Updated July 29, 2016 8:04 a.m. ET
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TOKYO— Sony Corp. reported a surprising net profit in the April-June quarter on strong PlayStation 4 sales, though it downgraded the outlook for its struggling image-sensor business because of the yen’s recent rapid strengthening.
During the quarter, the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant booked a net profit of ￥21.2 billion ($206 million), buoyed by its upbeat videogame arm. Consumer-electronics units, including smartphones and televisions, contributed smaller profits.
Analysts said they were confident Sony was on track to achieve its goal of an ￥80 billion net profit for this fiscal year ending in March, though they said fluctuating foreign-exchange rates could alter the forecast.
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Sony slashed its full fiscal-year revenue forecast by 8.7% to ￥7.4 trillion due to the yen’s strength, and it said the image-sensor unit would record a wider loss than earlier estimated for the same reason. The Japanese currency has risen this year from around ￥120 to the U.S. dollar in early January to around ￥103 to the dollar Friday.
The image sensors—a key component for cameras in smartphone—are made in Japan but largely sold overseas, so the strong yen reduces their profits. Sony has also experienced a drop in demand from major customer Apple Inc. because of slowing iPhone sales. The image-sensor unit recorded a ￥43.5 billion operating loss in the quarter.
Still, the overall outcome was a positive surprise after analysts had on average expected a modest loss. The PlayStation unit recorded an operating profit of ￥44 billion.
Sony suffered significant damage to a factory in Kumamoto in southern Japan after an earthquake there in April. The company said it expected the quake to reduce operating profit in the year ending March 2017 by ￥80 billion, an improvement from the ￥115 billion hit it had estimated in May.
The iPhone slump and yen gains have also hurt other Japanese electronics makers including Sharp Corp., which is set to be taken over soon by Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group. Sharp, which supplies display panels to Apple, said Friday that it posted a wider-than-expected net loss of ￥27.5 billion in the April-June quarter owing to weak sales of its smartphone screens.
Sony’s chief financial officer, Kenichiro Yoshida, said the company would beef up efforts to sell more-lucrative image sensors while cutting production costs. Waseda Business School professor Atsushi Osanai, who previously worked at Sony, said the worst for the sensor business was likely over—barring sharp currency fluctuations—because demand was picking up thanks to orders from Chinese makers of affordable handsets.
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