By Sam Nussey
TOKYO, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Sony on Thursday reported a 45% rise in second-quarter operating profit, beating market estimates, due to stronger performance at its games and movies units.
Profit was 622.3 billion yen ($3.95 billion), above an average estimate of 505 billion yen from 12 analysts polled by LSEG.
Contributors to the stronger performance, which led the Japanese entertainment and technology conglomerate to hike its full-year profit outlook by 9%, included the hit movie “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”.
Sony’s games business is expected to be a major beneficiary of the launch of “Grand Theft Auto VI” on November 19 but is grappling with higher memory chip prices due to the AI boom.
Companies continue to be squeezed by elevated memory prices, with iPhone maker Apple this week flagging pressure on margins over the holiday quarter.
The PlayStation maker said in July it had secured the amount of memory needed to meet its projected sales volume this year.
NINTENDO PROFIT SLIDES
The memory crunch and a lack of high-profile titles for the Switch 2 are also causing concern for investors in Nintendo.
The Kyoto-based company reported operating profit declined 16% to 73.9 billion yen in the quarter, below analyst estimates, on lower sales.
There has been no major change to the memory situation and Nintendo is in a position to secure sufficient quantities, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told reporters.
The company, which announced a price hike earlier in the year, is not considering further price changes, Furukawa said.
Nintendo maintained its full-year profit forecast and its outlook for sales of 16.5 million Switch 2 units.
The company launched “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” on Thursday with the title receiving positive reviews.
AI DISRUPTION FEARS
Amid the concerns about chip access, Sony sold 2.6 million PlayStation 5 units during the second quarter, compared to 4 million in the same period a year earlier.
Shares in Sony, which the market has worried could be affected by disruption from AI, have been buoyant in recent weeks. Sony closed up 7% ahead of earnings on Thursday.
Sony, a major manufacturer of image sensors used in smartphones, also lifted its outlook for its chips and music divisions.
($1 = 157.8400 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Christian Schmollinger)
