Company achieves 7% rise in Q3 2018 operating income due to strong music sales

Dubai, UAE – 7th February 2019 – Sony Corporation reported its strong third quarter annual operating income with a year-on-year increase of seven per cent compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year ending December 31, 2017.

The operating income for the most recent quarter increased to US$3.34 billion (¥377.0 billion) from US$3.10 billion (¥350.8 billion), a 7 per cent rise from the year ago period. Contributing to the income growth were the robust sales in the Music Division, which recorded a 274 per cent rise from the year ago period to US$1.3 billion (¥147.1 billion). Another contributor was the Imaging Products and Solutions (IP&S) division, which posted 31 per cent year-on-year growth amounting to US$302.9 million (¥32.2 billion). Sales for the Home Entertainment & Sound (HE&S) segment were also up 2.8 per cent on year at US$420.4 million (¥47.5 billion). 

“We got off to a strong start in the first two quarters for FY2018 and were able to sustain good momentum in the third quarter. Apart from Music, the Home Entertainment & Sound segment experienced an increase in operating income due to an improvement in the product mix of televisions reflecting a shift to high value-added models,” said Fumiatsu Hirai, Managing Director, Sony Middle East and Africa. “The continuous popularity of the award-winning WH-1000XM3 noise-cancelling headphones and our top-of-the-line range of BRAVIA Master Series TVs contributed to the overall sales across segments in the region.”

Sony reiterated its October forecast for its annual operating income of US$7.7 billion (¥870 billion), a significant rise from the previous year’s outlook of US$6.5 billion (¥734.9 billion). Meanwhile, the latest annual consolidated sales forecast is 2 per cent lower than the October forecast at US$77 billion (¥8.5 trillion).