Sony Pictures saw its fiscal first-quarter profit slip to $232.7 million (25.4 billion yen), a decline of 6 percent from the same period a year ago when profit was $247 million (27 billion yen).
Sony Corp. reported the film unit’s April-to-June earnings Wednesday in Tokyo. The Japanese conglomerate attributed the decline in earnings to increased production costs and a decrease in sales for the studio’s television productions — although it said sales for its motion pictures were up slightly. Revenue at Sony Pictures climbed $245 million in the quarter to $1.87 billion, a 15 percent year-on-year increase.
At the group level, Sony Corp. reported a 26.3 percent rise in first-quarter profit, benefiting from a somewhat smaller than expected slip in pandemic-fueled demand for its PlayStation 5 gaming products. Operating profit for the quarter rose to $2.57 billion (280.1 billion yen) from 221.7 billion yen last year.
Sony Corp raised its overall profit forecast for the full year through March 2022 to $8.98 (980 billion yen) from $8.53 (930 billion yen).
