April 26, 2019 – Sony Corp. said today it posted a record net profit in the year ended in March for the second straight year, lifted by strong demand for its game software, subscription-based gaming services and music streaming services.
The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant reported a group net profit of ¥916.27 billion ($8.2 billion) in fiscal 2018, up 86.7 percent from ¥490.79 billion.
It also logged a record operating profit of ¥894.24 billion, up 21.7 percent from a year ago, on sales of ¥8.67 trillion, up 1.4 percent.
For the fiscal year ending next March, the company expects group net profit to decline 45.4 percent to 500 billion yen, and group operating profit of ¥810 billion, down 9.4 percent. Group sales are forecast to rise 1.5 percent to ¥8.8 trillion.
Sony said it sold 17.8 million units of its nearly six-year-old PlayStation 4 game console in the last fiscal year, down from 19 million the previous year, and expects sales to further fall to 16 million in the current fiscal year.
The drop in game hardware sales was more than offset by growth in sales in software and income from its subscription services for PlayStation users.
Sony’s net profit rose after the acquisition of New York-based EMI Music Publishing last November, a move highlighting its increased focus on investing in content and intellectual property in music, movies and games.
Losses in its struggling mobile phone segment widened for the just-ended fiscal year.