Sony posts record annual profit boosted by chips and all-time high PlayStation 5 sales

Sony plans to sell 18,000,000 PlayStation 5 consoles during its fiscal year that ends in March 2023.

Getty Images

Sony announced record operating revenues on Friday. This was largely due to its chip division, and the sales of its PlayStation 5 gaming console.

Sony's performance in the March quarter was compared to Refinitiv consensus expectations:

Sony had previously predicted an operating profit of 1,18 trillion yen for its fiscal year that ended in March and revenue of 11.5 trillion. The company exceeded its own forecast, with an operating profit of 1.21 trillion yen. This is a company record.

Sony expects its current fiscal year sales, which end in March 2024 will be approximately the same as last year. The operating profit was estimated at 1,17 trillion yen - down 3% from last year.

Sony announced that it sold 19,1 million PlayStation 5 consoles during the fiscal year, exceeding its own estimate of 18 million. This is up from the 11.5 million PS5 consoles sold in the previous fiscal, when Sony faced supply chain problems.

The gaming division of the Japanese giant was its largest profit generator for the year. It brought in an operating profit of 250 billion Japanese yen - a 27% drop from last year.

Sony's gaming division generated revenue of 3,64 trillion yen for the fiscal year. This is an increase of 33% on last year. Sony's largest category in terms of sales was the gaming business.

Sony expects its gaming business operating profit to be 270 billion Japanese yen in the current fiscal period. The company hopes that PlayStation VR 2, its virtual reality headset, will boost sales. The company expects to see an increase in hardware profitability next year.

Sony has stated that it hopes to sell 25,000,000 PS5 units during the current financial period. This would be a PS5 record if it were achieved.

Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Switch console are the main competitors.

Sony makes image sensor chips for smartphones, cameras and other products. The image sensor division saw its profits increase 36% on an annual basis to 212.2 billion Japanese yen for the year ending Mar. 31.

The company, however, expects the operating profit of the division to drop 5.7% during the current fiscal period, citing the slump in demand, especially from Chinese smartphone manufacturers.

Sony's largest business, in terms of profit, was its music division.