Sony Corp. returned to the black in the second quarter of the fiscal year as the consumer electronic maker's cost-cutting initiatives and moves away from loss-making businesses paid dividends, the firm said Thursday.
Sony said its net profit in the three months ended Sept. 30 totaled 33.6 billion yen (278 million U.S. dollars) off 1.89 trillion yen in revenue, and that it logged an operating profit of 88 billion yen in the recording period, with the amount coming in ahead of median analysts' expectations.
The Tokyo-based maker of PlayStation game consoles and 4K Bravia flatscreen TVs also maintained its outlook for an annual operating profit of 320 billion yen in the year, off sales of 7.9 trillion yen, ending March 2016. Following wholesaling restructuring initiatives, including slashing thousands of jobs and moving resources and assets away from its loss-making mobile phone and TV businesses, Sony said Thursday it has been steadily redirecting investment into areas likely to trend upwards, including those involved in image sensor- based technology as well as its highly-anticipated virtual reality headset for its ubiquitous PlayStation 4, slated to be released next year.
While hinting at offloading its loss-making businesses, as the electronic giant had done with its Vaio computer brand last year, earlier this week Sony announced it would be acquiring Toshiba's semiconductor fabrication facilities, equipment and related assets, including those involved in areas such as CMOS image sensor engineering and design.
"This acquisition will enable Sony to increase its production capabilities in the area of CMOS image sensors, where further market growth is anticipated," Sony said on its website.
The acquisition of Toshiba's image sensor business could boost Sony's operating income by some 20 billion yen, market analysts have predicted. In the Devices section of its earnings report, Sony has already seen rising profits in the sector that includes its image sensor business. It said Thursday that operating profit in this section was 32.7 billion yen, up 16 percent on year, with sales of 258 billion yen.
Its gaming division saw sales grow by 16.5 percent to reach an operating profit of 23.9 billion yen, Sony also said, but reported that its Mobile Communications division, which produces its Xperia smartphone, logged an operating loss of 20.6 billion yen off revenue of 279.2 billion yen.
In the first half of fiscal 2015, the group announced a net profit of 116 billion yen (961 million U.S. dollars) compared to losses of 109.16 billion yen logged a year earlier. Its operating profit for the April to September period was 184.93 billion yen on revenue of 3.70 trillion yen, compared to losses in the same period last year of 15.77 billion yen, Sony said.
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