Sony reports highest first quarter profit

Sony Interactive Entertainment shipped 3.3 million units during the latest quarter (which is a slight drop year-on-year, from 3.5 million in the same quarter of the past fiscal year).

It left its full-year net profit forecast intact at ¥255 billion.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant's operating profit almost tripled to 157.61 billion yen to hit a record high on a first-quarter basis.

Overall operating profit almost tripled to ¥157.61 billion as total sales rebounded 15.2 percent to ¥1.86 trillion for April-June.

Sony was long an iconic Japanese brand, symbolizing the nation's spectacular rise after its defeat in World War II, but it fell behind powerful rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea and Apple of the U.S.in flat-panel TVs, smart devices and other gadgets. "We can't be complacent", Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida said at a press conference at Sony's Tokyo headquarters.

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Indeed, hitting the annual operating profit target is only the first step toward the ultimate goal of putting the company's boom-and-bust culture behind and producing steadier earnings.

Hirai took over in April 2012 after a disastrous fiscal 2011 that saw the company post a net loss of 456.6 billion yen. He laid out a three-year plan to lift the operating profit to 500 billion yen by 2017. This significant increase was mainly due to the improvements of operating results in the Semiconductors and Imaging Products & Solutions ("IP&S") segments, partially offset by a decrease in operating income in the Game & Network Services ("G&NS") segment. Sales for PS4 Pro and PlayStation VR haven't been provided as of yet. Income decreased significantly due to the lack of any highly profitable first party game launched during the quarter.

"Sales increased 5.4% year-on-year (a 4% increase on a constant currency basis) to 348.1 billion yen".

"Games business was revised up because PS4 sales are still strong and Xbox One X, with its high price, is seen less of a threat", Dai said, referring to Microsoft Corp.'s recently unveiled new console.