Traction the Playstation 3 entertainment console is starting to pick up helped Sony (NYSE: SNE) Corp increase net profit for the quarter ending December 31 by 25 percent to 200.2 billion yen ($1.75 billion) – but the financial markets overseas, where 85 percent of sales come from, dragged on other areas. WSJ: “Its financial unit was hurt by the declining value of its stock investments in the past few months, while a stronger-than-expected yen diminished the value of its overseas sales when converted into yen.”
– Games: The games unit turned last year’s 54.2 billion yen loss in to a 12.9 billion yen ($113 million) operating profit after Sony managed to reduce the costs of making Playstation 3. PS3 sales more than tripled on the previous quarter – there were 4.9 million of the consoles and 26 million games sold. But, thanks to the sluggish debut for the machine, Sony revised down its overall target for the year to 9.5 million units. PSP Lite sales were strong, too. Sales in the division were up 31.2 percent to 581.2 billion yen ($5.09 billion).
– Electronics: Falling prices of Bravia TVs and components for game consoles gave the unit a 166.5 billion ($1.46 billion) operating profit, but this is down seven percent year-on-year.
– Pictures: The movie arm saw a whopping 24.6 percent drop in year-on-year sales, to 223.8 billion yen ($1.96 billion) and blamed thusly: “Theatrical revenues decreased because there were fewer films released during the current quarter and none of these films were comparable to the highly-successful films Casino Royale and Pursuit of Happiness released in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year.” TV revenue was less, too, because the previous period saw big sales of movies to TV networks.