A customer looks at Sony Corp's digital cameras at an electronics store in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, yesterday. Sony Corp unexpectedly swung to a quarterly operating profit as improved demand for electronics and aggressive cost cuts countered the impact of a stronger yen and it lifted its annual forecast.
SONY bounced back to profit last quarter and raised its full-year earnings forecast, fueled by stronger demand for its PlayStation 3 gaming consoles, personal computers and televisions.
The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant said yesterday it booked a net profit of 25.7 billion yen (US$294 million) for the April-June quarter. That was a sharp turnaround from a 37.1 billion yen loss a year earlier. Revenue grew 3.8 percent to 1.66 trillion yen.
Healthier sales stemmed mainly from consumers in emerging markets such as Asia and South America, which offset declines in Japan and the United States.
Sony's business was strong enough to weather a stronger yen, which can make its products less competitive overseas, and weakness in its financial services division.
Sony's entertainment arm posted solid results despite lower movie revenue. Music sales rose, however, thanks to popular titles such as AC/DC's soundtrack to "Iron Man 2" and music from the hit TV show "Glee."