Japan’s Sony Group Corp on Thursday raised its full-year profit forecasts by 1.7 percent, thanks to strong results from its PlayStation gaming unit, but fell short of analysts’ estimates.
The electronics and entertainment giant also said its chief financial officer, Hiroki Totoki, will become president and chief operating officer effective April 1, retaining his current role.
The current chairman, Kenichiro Yoshida, will remain a director and CEO.
The company says it expects to make an operating profit of 1.18 trillion yen ($9.170 billion) through March 31, up from a previous forecast of 1.16 trillion yen.
That’s still below analysts’ average estimate of a profit of 1.19 trillion yen, according to Refinitiv data, and just shy of the record profit of 1.2 trillion yen recorded a year earlier.
Sony said sales of its PlayStation 5 video game consoles reached 7.1 million units in the October-December quarter, which coincides with the critical year-end shopping season, up sharply from 3.9 million units a year earlier.
($1 = 128.6100 yen)
