Overall Profits Up at Sony

TOKYO: Sony Corporation has returned to profit in its first fiscal quarter, with company-wide sales up by 3.8 percent to 1.6 trillion yen ($18.47 billion).

The Electronics giant rebounded from last year’s quarterly loss of 37.1 billion yen ($428 million) to record a net profit of 25.7 billion yen ($296.8 million).

Sony’s Networked Products and Services division narrowed its loss, posting a loss of 3.8 billion yen ($43 million), compared to a loss of 36.7 billion yen ($422.1 million) during the same quarter last year. Sales for this division were up 32 percent, due in large part to an increase in PlayStation3 unit sales. The PS3 sold 2.4 million units this past quarter compared to 1.1 million last year. Sales of the PSP declined slightly, from 1.3 million units in 2009 to 1.2 million units this past quarter, as software unit sales increased from 8.3 units million last year to 9.2 million units this year.

For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011, Sony now expects net income attributable to Sony Corp.’s stockholders of 60 billion yen, compared to prior outlook of 50 billion yen. Sales and operating revenue for the year are still projected at 7.6 trillion yen.