TOKYO: Sony upgraded its full-year sales and profit forecast on Thursday, saying it expected strong performances in the music, movie and electronics sectors.

Sony Group is now projecting a net profit of 730 billion yen ($6.4 billion) for the fiscal year to March 2022, up from its earlier estimate of 700 billion yen.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant also raised its annual sales forecast to 9.9 trillion yen from 9.7 trillion yen.

Among other factors, the firm said it expected profits in the music and movie sectors to be boosted by “licence revenue in the anime business” as well as an expected increase in sales resulting from its acquisition this year of top online anime library Crunchyroll.

But its net profit more than halved for the second quarter to 213.1 billion yen, facing a slowdown in the pandemic boom enjoyed by the gaming sector last year as people turned to indoor entertainment during virus lockdowns.

A one-time tax reduction had also contributed to strong net profit results in the same quarter last year.

In the previous fiscal year, Sony reported its biggest-ever annual net profit, which more than doubled to 1.17 trillion yen on record sales of nearly nine trillion yen.

AFP