Sony Sees Double-Digit Earnings Growth Despite Quarterly Miss on EV Losses, Game Weakness — Update

By Kosaku Narioka

Sony Group projected double-digit earnings growth for the new fiscal year, signaling resilience in its entertainment businesses despite fourth-quarter net profit falling sharply due to losses from its electric-vehicle joint venture with Honda Motor and weakness in its game and other businesses.

The solid profit forecast comes as the Japanese company has spent billions of dollars on acquisitions in recent years to beef up its entertainment content, while giving up control of businesses in other areas.

Sony in March roughly doubled its stake in the company that owns the Snoopy, Charlie Brown and other Peanuts characters, to 80% for about $460 million. The company also spun off its financial business in October to focus on its entertainment businesses.

The entertainment and electronics company on Friday said it expects net profit for the year that began in April to climb 12.5% to 1.160 trillion yen, equivalent to $7.39 billion, though it projected revenue to decline 1.4% to Y12.300 trillion.

Sony forecast operating profit for its game business to increase 30% to Y600 billion on stronger sales of in-house game software titles.

The company also said it will buy back up to Y500 billion of its own shares over the next year.

The stock gained modestly following the guidance and buyback announcements. Shares remain down about 21% year to date, weighed by concerns about higher costs of memory chips used in game consoles and a possible deterioration in consumer sentiment amid the Middle East conflict.

For the three months ended March, Sony's net profit dropped 63% from a year earlier to Y83.12 billion, missing the Y202.24 billion estimate in a poll of analysts by data provider S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The company said it booked a loss of Y44.9 billion in equity-method investment related to the joint venture with Honda, which discontinued the sale of its EV models.

Operating profit for its game business fell 42% to Y54.10 billion as revenue declined. Sony sold 1.5 million PlayStation 5 units in the three months ended March, up from the 2.8 million units sold in the year-earlier period.

Fourth-quarter operating profit for its movie and image-sensor businesses fell. Its entertainment technology business posted a narrower operating loss. Quarterly revenue grew 8.3% to Y3.036 trillion.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 08, 2026 01:51 ET (05:51 GMT)