Sony Logs Record 1.2 T. Yen in Operating Profit in FY 2021

Tokyo, May 10 (Jiji Press)--Sony Group Corp. <6758> reported Tuesday a record-high consolidated operating profit of 1,202,339 million yen in fiscal 2021, up 25.9 pct from the previous year, thanks to strong earnings in the movie and music businesses, as well as a weaker yen. The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant saw the profit top 1 trillion yen for the first time ever in the year that ended in March. According to SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., Sony Group became the second Japanese manufacturer to earn over 1 trillion yen in operating profit after Toyota Motor Corp. <7203>. Consolidated sales also hit an all-time high of 9,921,513 million yen, up 10.3 pct. But the group's net profit dropped 14.3 pct to 882,178 million yen, due to a sharp decline in tax refunds. Sales of the PlayStation 5 video game console, launched in 2020, came to 11.5 million units, falling short of its initial target of 14.8 million units because of semiconductor shortages and supply chain bottlenecks. For the current year, Sony projects a 3.5 pct drop in group operating profit to 1.16 trillion yen, in reaction from profit growth due to the sale of a U.S. movie unit's operation the year before. The company anticipates that the dollar will stay around 123 yen, up from 112.30 yen in fiscal 2021. If the dollar rises by 1 yen, the operating profit will increase by 1 billion yen. Group sales are projected to rise 14.9 pct to 11.4 trillion yen, topping 10 trillion yen for the first time. Expecting to sufficiently procure parts, the company aims to sell 18 million PlayStation 5 consoles in the current year. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's chief financial officer, told an online briefing that it will take about three months to normalize television set production in Shanghai, where a prolonged lockdown has been in place following a resurgence of the novel coronavirus. On the company's electronics business, Totoki said, "Demand conditions are expected to become the most severe in recent years" due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and global inflation. <8316> [EARNINGS] END