Earnings Roundup: Sony profit soars
A recovery in electronics sales offset losses in video games and helped boost Sony’s profit for the July-to-September quarter more than 40-fold over the same period a year ago.
Sony Corp. saw $646.7 million in group net profit for the second quarter – or 73.72 billion yen, up from 1.68 billion yen in last year’s second quarter. Quarterly sales jumped 12.3 percent to $18.27 billion.
For the fiscal half overall, Sony posted a $1.23 billion profit, about three times a year earlier. First half sales climbed 12.8 percent to $35.61 billion.
The major sore spot in Sony’s results was in its game unit, where red ink worsened from a year earlier, partly because of losses related to its PlayStation 3 home console. The machine has been struggling against Nintendo’s Wii.
Sony shares dipped 1.4 percent to $45 shortly before earnings were announced Thursday.
Nintendo Co. said Thursday profits more than doubled in the six months to Sept. 30 on the roaring success of its hit Wii and Nintendo DS game consoles.
The Japanese manufacturer of Pokemon and Super Mario games said its group net profit surged to 132.42 billion yen ($1.16 billion) in its fiscal first half from 54.35 billion yen a year earlier.
Group sales also more than doubled to 694.80 billion yen ($6.07 billion) from 298.82 billion yen, with 78 percent of sales booked overseas.
The strong results spurred Nintendo to raise its profit forecast for the year through March to 275 billion yen ($2.40 billion), up from the 245 billion yen it forecast in July. Sales are forecast to rise 10 percent to 1.55 trillion yen ($13.55 billion).
The earnings underline the Kyoto-based company’s success in a three-way battle of video game consoles against Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360. Nintendo’s U.S. arm is based in Redmond, Wash., as is Microsoft.
Comcast Corp., the nation’s biggest cable TV systems operator, said Thursday that its third-quarter profit fell 54 percent and new customer additions slowed amid increasing competition from phone and satellite TV companies.
The earnings report sent Comcast shares down over 10 percent in Thursday.
Comcast earned $560 million, or 18 cents per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30 compared with $1.22 billion, or 38 cents, in the same quarter a year ago.
The decline also reflected a comparison with year-ago results that included $669 million in one-time gains related to Comcast’s purchase of Adelphia’s cable assets and a swap of cable systems with Time Warner Cable Inc. Excluding these gains, Comcast would have seen profits rise by 2 percent from last year’s $548 million in adjusted earnings.
Revenue rose by 21 percent to $7.78 billion from $6.43 billion a year ago.
Honda Motor Co. said Thursday its profit shot up 63 percent in the July-September quarter, mainly riding on solid sales of smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles and cost-cutting efforts.
Net income at Japan’s No. 2 car maker climbed to 208.5 billion yen ($1.83 billion) for its fiscal second quarter, up from 127.9 billion yen in the same period a year ago.
Group operating profit rose 48 percent to 286.34 billion yen ($2.51 billion) from 193.02 billion yen. Group sales grew 13 percent to 2.971 trillion yen ($26.06 billion) from 2.631 trillion yen, achieving its seventh consecutive sales record, the company said.
The results show Honda’s models such as Civic and Accord, as well as CR-V sport-utility vehicle, attracted consumers despite rising gasoline prices, keeping the company’s business on track. Honda’s global automobile sales rose 6 percent to 937,000 units in the latest four-month period, compared with a year earlier, with brisk sales in North America, Europe and Asian markets. By value, auto sales rose 9.6 percent in North America, 25.8 percent in Europe and 32.6 percent in Asia.
North America accounts for more than half of Honda’s total sales, but Europe and Asia also expanded from last year. Honda’s car sales at home, however, dipped 16.4 percent to 143,000 units.