Sony Group reported a 32% jump in net profit for the April-June quarter, beating analyst estimates and prompting the company to raise its full-year earnings guidance.
Net profit reached 342.2B yen (roughly $2.15B), well above the analyst consensus while revenue rose 8.2%.
Music and sensors led the way
Sony's music business drove a 14% increase in operating profit, fueled by stronger revenue from streaming services and live events.
Recent top sellers included catalog releases from Michael Jackson alongside newer recordings from Ella Langley and Bad Bunny.
The image-sensor business more than doubled its operating profit, driven by higher mobile product sales.
Sony recently announced a joint venture with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to develop next-generation image sensors, a move the company says is aimed at limiting its capital expenditure as demand for machine vision grows in the AI era.
The gaming division was a mixed picture. Revenue was largely flat, and total game playtime fell 4% during the quarter.
Sony sold 1.6M PlayStation 5 consoles, roughly a third fewer than the same period a year earlier. Cumulative PS5 sales now stand at more than 93M units, with 125M active players.
CFO Lin Tao said she isn't concerned about the engagement dip, pointing to a strong release slate in the second half of the fiscal year.
Big titles including "Marvel's Wolverine" and "God of War Laufey" are scheduled for coming months, and Sony is expected to benefit significantly from the Nov. 19 launch of "Grand Theft Auto VI."
Sony also reiterated it has secured enough memory chip supply to meet its projected sales volume for the full fiscal year, addressing a concern that has weighed on its stock.
Growth meets uncertainty
On the acquisition front, Sony recently made a non-binding proposal to acquire camera lens maker Tamron as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Sony already holds 14.7% of Tamron. Tamron shares surged on the Tokyo exchange after the news, while Sony said the deal would strengthen its imaging business.
One wild card is a 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Kumamoto on July 28, affecting Sony's semiconductor facilities in the region.
Production at one facility remained suspended at the time of reporting, and Sony said the financial impact had not yet been assessed and was not included in its quarterly results.
Sony shares closed lower on the day of the earnings release and were down roughly 10% year-to-date, as investors weigh concerns about AI's impact on entertainment consumption against an otherwise strong operational quarter.
