Sony share price jumps following increase in operating profit

 

Sony’s share price opened five per cent higher on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, after the company revised its third-quarter operating profit up 2.2 per cent to 182bn yen (£1bn).

 

The company increased its operating profit for the year from the originally reported 178bn yen, which it said was based on incomplete data due to last year’s high-profile cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

 

Investors appear to be pleased with the upgrade, yet Sony is still expecting to record an operating loss of 170bn yen in the year to the end of March – a hefty drop from last year’s 40bn yen loss and its sixth net loss in seven years.

 

The cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, which stole headlines and briefly threatened to lead to an international crisis, contributed to a 74 per cent drop from the 24bn yen operating profit recorded in 2013-14 to 6.2bn yen.

 

Overall sales and operating revenue increased 6.5 per cent to 2,566bn yen, in part thanks to strong sales of the PlayStation 4 at its Game & Network Services which generated 531.5bn in revenue – more than any other Sony division during the quarter.

 

Sony forecasts a total of 17.5m PlayStation4 and PlayStation3 sales for the financial year ending March 2015.