Sony Q4 Earnings: Financial Unit Spin-Off, Stock Buyback, Cautious Outlook Amid Tariffs

PlayStation parent Sony Group Corp. (NYSE: SONY) reported its fiscal fourth-quarter 2024 results on Wednesday.

The company reported a quarterly consolidated sales decline of 24% year-on-year to $17.24 billion (2.63 trillion Japanese yen), missing the analyst consensus estimate of $20.40 billion.

EPS of 21 cents (32.63 yen) beat the analyst consensus estimate of 12 cents.

Also Read: What’s Pushing Sony To Consider A Semiconductor Spinoff?

Segments & Profits: Game & Network Services (G&NS) revenue decreased 4.2% to 1.05 trillion yen, and operating income declined 12.5% to 92.7 billion yen.

Music revenue rose 9.5% to 470.7 billion yen, and operating income increased by 17.4% to 83.6 billion yen.

Pictures revenue increased by 1.9% to 414.6 billion yen. Operating income improved by 74.3% to 53.5 billion yen.

Entertainment, Technology & Services (ET&S) revenue declined by 9.1% to 484.1 billion yen, and operating income loss rose to 20.4 billion yen from a loss of 6.4 billion yen a year ago.

Imaging & Sensing Solutions revenue (I&SS) rose 2.6% to 409 billion yen, and operating income remained flat at 34.5 billion yen.

Financial Services revenue loss stood at 172.4 billion yen. Operating income loss was 11.6 billion yen.

Consolidated operating income declined by 11.2% to 203.6 billion yen. The net income grew 8.7% to 197.7 billion yen.

Sony sold 2.8 million PS5 units in the quarter, compared to 4.5 million a year ago and 9.5 million in the preceding quarter.

It held 2.98 trillion yen in cash and equivalents as of March end. The company’s board of directors has authorized a new stock buyback program of up to 100 million shares worth a maximum of 250 billion yen. The period of repurchase is May 15, 2025 to May 14, 2026.

Sony plans to execute a partial spin-off of Sony Financial Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary that operates the Financial Services business, in October 2025. Sony plans to classify the Financial Services business as a discontinued operation from the first quarter of 2025.

In April, Sony announced that it had raised the price of its PlayStation 5 console by close to 25% in select markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Australia, and New Zealand, citing high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates.

Outlook: Sony expects fiscal 2025 sales of $81.82 billion or 11.7 trillion yen versus the 13.34 trillion yen analyst consensus estimate. It expects operating income of 1.38 trillion yen (before tariff impact) and 1.28 trillion yen (after tariff impact).

Despite a strong performance in the last fiscal year and the announcement of a share buyback and the financial unit spin-off, the looming tariff burden has led to a more cautious outlook from the company.

Price Action: SONY stock traded higher by 5.62% at $25.92 premarket at last check on Wednesday.

Read Next:

Sony, Nintendo Hike Console Prices As US Tariffs Bite, Microsoft May Dodge The Hit

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This article Sony Q4 Earnings: Financial Unit Spin-Off, Stock Buyback, Cautious Outlook Amid Tariffs originally appeared on Benzinga.com