Sony’s consolidated results for the 3 months to September 30th build on those from last quarter to paint an increasingly positive picture of the company’s financial health. Sony as a whole recorded an operating income of ¥68.7 billion (£524m, $828m) compared to the operating loss of ¥32.6bn (£249m, $393m)they suffered in the same period last year.
Making a significant contribution to the turn around from a year ago and getting special mention on the front page of the report for their efforts is Sony’s Network Products and Services (NPS) segment, home of PlayStation. This was despite the strong Yen (or weak Dollar and Euro) leading to unfavourable exchange rates.
Twelve months ago the NPS segment recorded an operating loss of ¥59bn (£450m, $710m) but in the last three months have returned an operating income of ¥6.9bn (£53m, $83m). Sony cite the increased sales combined with the reduced cost to them of manufacturing the PS3 as a key factor, along with increasing PC unit sales.
Speaking of unit sales, in the quarter Sony sold 3.5m PS3s, up from 2.4m in Q1 and 3.2m in Q2 ’09 which saw the launch of the PS3 Slim. The PSP recorded sales of 1.5m which is up from 1.2m in Q1, but down a massive 50% from 3m in Q2 ’09. The venerable PS2 chalked up 1.5m sales, down slightly from 1.6m in Q1 and down 21% from the 1.9m in Q2 ’09.
PS3 software unit sales recorded notable growth jumping 48% to 35.3m from 23.9m a year ago. Meanwhile sales of both PSP and PS2 software have declined. PSP software sales totalled 11m down 15% from the 13m in Q2 ’09. PS2 software unit sales fell 51% to 5.6m from 11.4m last year.
Sources: Sony
Exchange rates used above as at 30th September 2010 – ¥131 = £1 (BBC Market Data), ¥83 = $1 (Sony)
