Sony Posts Record-High Annual Sales

AFP-Jiji

9:19 JST, April 29, 2023

TOKYO (AFP-Jiji) — Sony reported record annual sales of ¥11.5 trillion on Friday, attributing the “significant increase” to a weak yen and growth in its entertainment and image-sensor sectors.

The revenue figure was the largest ever for the Japanese conglomerate, beating the last financial year’s record of ¥9.9 trillion.

A weaker yen, which inflates profits for companies like Sony that sell products abroad, helped boost total sales.

Increased income from gaming hardware was also a positive factor, Sony said, along with “higher revenues for anime streaming services,” including from the acquisition of Japanese cartoon giant Crunchyroll.

Annual net profit in the year to March was ¥937.1 billion — up 6.2% year on year and beating a forecast of ¥870 billion.

But for the current financial year, which began in April, Sony predicted a lower net profit of ¥840 billion, partly for technical reasons related to tax expenses.

It expects to maintain annual sales at ¥11.5 trillion.

Sony sold 19.1 million PlayStation 5 consoles in 2022-23, up from 11.5 million the previous year when it faced supply chain issues, in part due to COVID lockdowns in China.