Sony reported a 45% rise in operating profit for the second quarter, beating analysts' expectations, driven by strong performance in its games and film divisions and the success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The results led the company to raise its annual profit forecast by 9%.
اضافة اعلان
The Japanese company announced today, Thursday 5 November, that its operating profit rose 45% in the second quarter, exceeding market estimates, supported by improved performance in its games and film businesses.
Operating profit reached ¥622.3 billion, or about $3.95 billion, well above the average forecast of ¥505 billion from 12 analysts polled by the London Stock Exchange Group.
The success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day strengthened the financial performance of the Japanese entertainment and technology group, prompting it to raise its profit forecast for the full financial year by 9%.
Sony's games division is expected to benefit significantly from the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI on 19 November. At the same time, the company faces challenges linked to rising memory chip prices, driven by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence technologies.
Companies continue to face pressure from rising memory prices. This week, Apple, which makes the iPhone, warned that these increases would weigh on its profit margins in the quarter that includes the year-end holiday season.
Sony, which makes the PlayStation, announced in July that it had secured the memory chips needed to meet its expected sales volume for the current year.
Nintendo's profits fall
The shortage of memory chips, together with a limited lineup of major games for the Switch 2, has raised investor concerns about the performance of Japanese rival Nintendo.
Nintendo, headquartered in Kyoto, reported a 16% fall in operating profit in the second quarter, to ¥73.9 billion, below analysts' expectations, as sales declined.
Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told reporters that the memory chip supply situation had not changed significantly, and that the company was still able to secure enough chips to meet its needs.
Furukawa added that Nintendo, which raised the prices of its products earlier this year, is not currently considering any further price changes.
The company left its annual profit forecast unchanged and kept its Switch 2 sales estimate at 16.5 million units for the year.
Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Thursday, which received positive reviews.
Concerns over the impact of AI
Amid concerns about access to memory chips, Sony said it sold 2.6 million PlayStation 5 consoles in the second quarter, compared with about 4 million in the same period last year.
This decline reflects a notable drop in sales of gaming hardware, despite the strong growth the company recorded in operating profit.
Meanwhile, Sony's shares performed well in recent weeks, despite market concerns that the company's business could be affected by the changes artificial intelligence is bringing to the technology and entertainment sectors.
Sony's shares closed up 7% ahead of the earnings announcement on Thursday.
The company, one of the leading manufacturers of image sensors used in smartphones, also raised its forecasts for its semiconductor and music divisions.
This improvement comes as technology and entertainment companies face growing challenges linked to the cost of electronic components, the development of artificial intelligence, and shifting patterns of demand for devices and digital content.
