Sony has lifted its annual guidance after posting double-digit growth for Q2 on the back of strong performance in its music and image sensor businesses.
The media conglomerate reported operating income of JPY429 billion (A$4.25 billion), marking a 10% increase from the same time last year.
Revenues rose by 5% to JPY3.108 trillion.
The increases were driven by the company’s music and imaging businesses, which rose by 27.65% to JPY115.4 billion and 50% to JPY138.5 billion, respectively.
This offsets the drop in sales in the gaming and network services division, which fell by 13.26% to JPY120.4 billion.
Despite the drop, the gaming division was still the company’s biggest driver in revenue.
While KPop Demon Hunters became the most popular film ever on Netflix and continues to break streaming records for both the film and original soundtrack, its picture business shrank by about 2.75%.
Despite Sony being behind the animated film, it didn’t reap benefits due to selling the film’s exclusive rights to Netflix.
While exact details of the deal are unknown, it was reported that Sony made an initial $25 million profit from producing the film for Netflix.
The film gave Netflix a significant boost in viewership and contributed to its 17% revenue jump in the September quarter.
It isn’t all bad news for Sony, as a sequel film slated for 2029 has been confirmed, with Netflix reportedly providing the media conglomerate a US$15 million cash bonus for the first film’s performance.
Following the overall rise in income and revenue, the Japanese company raised its full-year outlook.
It is now expecting profit to climb by JPY100 billion, or 8% higher than its previous forecast and increased its revenue projection by JPY300 billion, or 3%, while lowering its estimated tariff-related losses to JPY50 billion from JPY70 billion.
At the time of writing, Sony (TYO: 6758) shares were up by 6.07% to JPY4,544.
