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 expectations of a smaller impact from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.
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 such as Honda Motor have trimmed their expected hit from tariffs amid a reduction in uncertainty with Japan striking a trade deal with the U.S. last month.
Sony also said it sees a stronger profit outlook at its games business, boosted by sales of network services and favourable exchange rates.
Sony was once well known as a maker of household electronics such as the “Walkman” portable cassette player but has become an entertainment behemoth spanning games, movies and music as well as a leading maker of image sensors for smartphones.
The group 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 5%.
Sony sold 2.5 million PlayStation 5 game consoles in the first quarter, a 4% rise compared to the same period a year earlier.
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.
The console industry was set 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 in 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 and Christopher Cushing)
