By Sam Nussey
TOKYO, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Sony on Thursday reported a 45% rise in second-quarter operating profit to 622.3 billion yen ($3.95 billion), beating market estimates, due to stronger performance at its games and movies units.
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.
During the second quarter, Sony sold 2.6 million PlayStation 5 units, 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)
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