The Sony Group Corp. logo was displayed on screen at the Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) Total Exhibition held in Chiba, Japan on Wednesday, October 16th, 2024.
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Sony Group Shares rose more than 3.5% on Wednesday after a Japanese conglomerate announced a share buyback of up to 250 billion yen ($1.7 billion) and announced operating profits had risen.
Operating profit for the last three months of the fiscal year was 203.6 billion yen, breaking the LSEG average analyst estimate of 192.2 billion yen, but down 11% from the same period last year.
in Revenue ReportJapan-based electronics, entertainment and financial companies have announced a repurchasing of shares that have reached a cap of 250 billion yen.
Sony also provided details about partial spinoffs of the finance unit. The company plans to distribute a small share of 80% of the spin-off common stock to Sony Group shareholders through dividends.
The Finance Unit lists its finance operations this year and will be classified as a discontinued business in Sony’s accounting from the current quarter, the company added.
However, Sony’s outlook for the current fiscal year ending in March 2026 was inactive.
The company predicts operating profit will rise 0.3% to 1.28 trillion yen after receiving a 100 billion yen hit from President Donald Trump’s trade war. This was below the average analyst estimate of 1.5 trillion yen.
Sony noted that the impact of its estimated tariffs did not reflect the trade contracts made between the US and China on Monday, and the actual impact could vary widely.
The US agreed to temporarily reduce China’s tariffs from 145% to 30%, but Beijing said it would lower tariffs on US goods from 125% to 10%.
In a revenue call on Wednesday, Sony executives said the company will “control the impact of tariffs by stockpiling US strategic inventory, adjusting product allocations worldwide, and increasing the prices of certain products by looking at market trends and other measures.”
Sony hiked prices for PlayStation 5 gaming consoles in Europe, Australia and New Zealand in April, citing a “challenging economic environment” that includes high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates.
Having become prominent for home appliances like Walkman in the 1980s, Sony has expanded its products to entertainment, including films, music and game consoles such as the popular PlayStation.
The president of Sony Group Hiroki Toki, who also served as CEO at the beginning of the year, said in a revenue call that Sony’s entertainment business accounted for around 61% of its quarterly consolidated revenue. And the company will continue to focus on expanding this segment.
The company also doubles the increase in active users and doubles the per-user spending on the PlayStation 5 console, Toki said it would promote stable profits.
