Sony Swings to Full-Year Net Profit

TOKYO: Sony Corporation has posted a full-year net profit of 147.8 billion yen ($1.4 billion), marking only its second year of net profitability in the last seven years.

Revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31 came in at 8.1 trillion yen ($72.8 billion), which is down 1.3 percent from the previous year and affected negatively by the stronger yen.

The Pictures segment—which is comprised of the motion pictures, television productions and media networks categories—saw sales increase 6.8 percent year-on-year to 938.1 billion yen ($8.3 billion). Lower sales in motion pictures were substantially offset by higher sales in media networks and television productions.

The decrease in motion pictures sales was primarily due to a decrease in home-entertainment revenues, as the previous fiscal year benefited from the strong performances of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, 22 Jump Street and Heaven Is For Real.

There were higher theatrical revenues in the current fiscal year, driven by the strong worldwide theatrical performances of Spectre and Hotel Transylvania 2.

The increase in media networks sales was primarily due to higher advertising revenues in India and the U.K.

The increase in television productions sales was primarily due to higher SVOD revenues for Breaking Bad, The Blacklist and Better Call Saul.

Operating income decreased 20.0 billion yen year-on-year to 38.5 billion yen ($341 million). This decrease was primarily due to the impact of the lower home-entertainment revenues, the underperformance of The Walk and The Brothers Grimsby, and the negative impact of foreign exchange rates. The decrease was partially offset by the higher media networks sales in India and the U.K., as well as the worldwide theatrical performance of Hotel Transylvania 2.