Sony says its net profit came in at 147.8 billion yen for the fiscal year to March, reversing a 126.0 billion yen loss a year earlier.
Advertisement
Sony on Thursday posted a full-year profit of $1.4 billion, as strong sales of its PlayStation video games console helped it move past years of losses.
Operating profit more than quadrupled to CNY 294.2 billion ($2.70 billion) for the year ended March, roughly in line with the firm’s forecast announced earlier this month.
Slowing demand for smartphones has hit growth at image sensors, a business Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai had been able to count on to bolster profits as he shifted away from consumer electronics. Revenue dipped 20 percent on past year, which Sony explains as being partly down to “a strategic decision not to pursue scale in order to improve profitability”. The company has said there’s been damage to the building, clean rooms and equipment.
The devices unit, which handles things like image sensors, batteries, recording media, took an alarming dip to an operating loss of ¥28.6 billion ($253 million) after posting an ¥89 billion profit previous year.
Sony has postponed the release of its earnings outlook for the current financial year because the company is still assessing the impact of recent powerful earthquakes in southern Japan on its business, it said. That doesn’t look likely anymore, as Sony is now forecasting a decline in demand for its camera modules.
The epicenter of the natural disaster was just outside the city of Kumamoto, where Sony has its manufacturing plant for sensors that are used in several of Axis’ products.
Advertisement
Sony’s Xperia mobile phones have struggled in a market dominated by Apple Inc.
