By Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) -Sony raised its full-year operating profit forecast on Thursday by 4% to 1.33 trillion yen ($9.01 billion), citing factors including expectations of a smaller impact from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Sony sees a tariff impact of 70 billion yen, compared to 100 billion yen forecast in May. It said the estimated impact is based on tariff rates as of August 1 and that the situation remained fluid.
Japanese companies have been adjusting their expectations of the hit from tariffs as countries strike trade deals with the U.S. including Japan last month.
“There are still some fluid aspects, such as product specific tariffs,” said Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao at an earnings briefing.
The company expects uncertainty in the business environment such as additional U.S. tariffs will have greater impact from the second quarter onwards.
Sony also said it sees a stronger profit outlook at its games business, boosted by sales of network services and favourable exchange rates.
Once known as a maker of household electronics such as the “Walkman” portable cassette player, Sony has become an entertainment behemoth spanning games, movies and music as well as a leading maker of image sensors for smartphones.
The conglomerate reported a 36.5% rise in operating profit to 340 billion yen for the April-June quarter, beating the 288 billion yen average of eight analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.
Shares in Sony, which announced results during the midday trading break, jumped 4%. The stock has gained around 15% year-to-date.
Sony sold 2.5 million PlayStation 5 game consoles in the first quarter, a 4% rise compared to the same period a year earlier.
“Death Stranding 2: On The Beach,” launched in June to positive reviews with “Ghost of Yotei” due for release in October.
Quarterly operating profit at the games business more than doubled to 148 billion yen due to higher sales of network services and games not made by Sony.
“Sony is further cementing its dominance in high fidelity gaming,” said Serkan Toto, founder of the Kantan Games consultancy.
“In my view, Sony is now competing with the PC more than the Xbox,” he said, referring to Microsoft’s console.
The console industry was expected to receive a boost this year from the launch of “Grand Theft VI” but the latest addition to the popular series has been delayed to 2026.
Nintendo, which is seen as a potential beneficiary of GTA 6’s delay, last week reported robust early demand for its new Switch 2 gaming device.
Elsewhere at the conglomerate, Sony is preparing to cut its stake in its financial unit to less than 20% through a partial spin-off, with the business to list in Tokyo on September 29.
($1 = 147.5700 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Christopher Cushing and Louise Heavens)
