Sony reported sales down 1 percent to JPY 1.926 trillion in its fiscal first quarter to June, as a slowdown in Playstation sales and lower TV and smartphone sales offset the growth at its music and film activities. The company slightly lowered its outlook for full-year sales, to JPY 8.6 trillion from an outlook in April of JPY 8.9 trillion.
Quarterly operating profit was still up 18 percent to JPY 231 billion, driven by improvement at its camera components business on demand for high-end sensors in smartphones. Net profit fell by 33 percent to JPY 152 billion, hit by a higher tax rate. Sony maintained its forecast for full-year operating profit to fall to JPY 810 billion and net profit down at JPY 500 billion.
The biggest drop in Q1 sales was at Electronic Products & Solutions, the new division merging the consumer electronics and smartphone businesses. Sony reported lower unit sales of TVs, smartphone and digital cameras, leading to a 15 percent fall in revenues at the division to JPY 84.2 billion. Operating profit fell to JPY 25 billion from JPY 33 billion a year ago, but Sony still expects a higher profit over the full year, thanks to continued cost-cutting at the mobile business.
