Sony profit beats estimates as videogames help offset sensor decline

Company's operating profits rise 11% to 202.1 billion yen, beating the average 175 billion yen forecast

Sony today reported quarterly profit that beat market estimates, as videogame sales and cost cuts in its flagging mobile business offset a fall in sales of the image sensors that had led the company’s turnaround a year prior.

October-December operating profit rose 11 % from a year earlier to 202.1 billion yen ($1.68 billion), beating the average 175 billion yen forecast of 8 analysts according to Thomson Reuters data.

Sony has fallen behind Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as well as low-cost Asian rivals in consumer electronics such as smartphones and TVs.

But cost cuts as well as strong sales of PlayStation 4 games and image sensors used in smartphones helped a turnaround at the Japanese manufacturer over the past year.

Worries about weaker sales of Apple's iPhones and a slowdown in China's mobile market have weighed on Sony shares in recent weeks. The stock closed at 2,523 yen on Friday, down around 16 % since the start of the year.

Sony said quarterly sales of devices, including image sensors, fell 13 % from a year earlier. The segment, also hit by weak battery sales, booked a loss of 11.7 billion yen compared with a 53.8 billion yen profit in the previous year.

The company maintained its outlook for full-year operating profit to grow to 320 billion yen from 68.5 billion in the previous year.