Sony Posts Q2 Profit As PS4 Business Delivers Strong Performance

Sony’s game and network services business
delivered a 16.5 per cent year-on-year rise in sales and operating
revenue (totalling 360.7 billion yen) with operating income of 23.9
billion yen up 9.8 per cent.

The sales increase was primarily
driven by an increase in PS4 software sales along with the impact of
foreign exchange rates, partially offset by a decrease in PlayStation
3 software sales, Sony advised.

Sony’s devices business, which
includes its image sensors business, was another strongly performing
segment, with Sony stating a 7.4 per cent year-on-year increase in
sales (totalling 258.1 billion yen) was primarily due to the impact
of foreign exchange rates and an increase in demand for image
sensors, partially offset by a decrease in battery business
sales.

The devices business delivered operating income of 32.7
billion yen, up 15.4 per cent year-on-year.

Sony’s mobile
communications business, meanwhile, continues to struggle, with sales
down 15.2 per cent year-on-year (totalling 272.9 billion yen), with
Sony posting an operating loss of 20.6 billion yen, as compared to
last year’s loss of 170.6 billion yen.

Sony stated the sales
decrease was due to a significant decrease in smartphone unit sales,
resulting from its “strategic decision not to pursue scale in
order to improve profitability”, while the year-on-year decrease
in operating loss was primarily due to a 176 billion yen impairment
charge of goodwill recorded in last year’s corresponding
quarter.

The negative impact of the decrease in smartphone
unit sales “was offset by an improvement in product mix,
reflecting a shift to high value-added models, as well as reductions
in costs, including marketing and research and development
expenses”.