Sony expects profit to slip after record year

Sony Group Corp (6758.T) said on Friday it expects this business year’s operating profit to slip from a record high as lower income from financial services offsets gains in its gaming, music and movie businesses.

The maker of the PlayStation game console expects operating profit in the year to March 31 to fall 3.2 per cent to 1.17 trillion yen ($8.65 billion), lower than an analysts’ average estimate of a 1.275 trillion yen profit, according to Refinitiv data.

The improved performance at its gaming unit, however, is good news for the Japanese company after it struggled to make enough PlayStation 5 game consoles during the COVID-19 pandemic because of semiconductor supply chain disruptions.

Sony, which competes with Xbox maker Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Switch provider Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.T), sold 19.1 million units of the PlayStation 5 (PS5) videogame machine last business year, up from 11.5 million a year earlier.

For this business year, the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate said it expects profits at its gaming and network unit to rise by 8 per cent to 270 billion yen. It forecast earnings growth at its music and pictures divisions to largely remain flat, with profits from financial services falling by a fifth.

Sony said its overall operating profit fell 7.3 per cent to 128.5 billion yen for the three months that ended March 31. For the full year, its profit was 1.21 trillion yen, its highest annual profit ever.

($1 = 135.2600 yen)