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Sony raises FY'18 guidance on fiscal Q3 profit surge

Japanese consumer electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp. on Feb. 2 lifted its outlook for full-year fiscal 2018 after recording sharply higher profit for the third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017.

For the fiscal year ending March 31, Sony now expects attributable net income to come in at ¥480 billion, which is a 26.3% increase from the previous forecast of ¥380 billion announced Oct. 31, 2017. It also expects income before taxes to rise 15% to ¥690 billion from the previous forecast of ¥600 billion, and operating income to grow 14.3% to ¥720 billion from the previous forecast of ¥630 billion. Guidance for sales and operating revenue remains unchanged at ¥8.50 trillion.

The current S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate for Sony's fiscal 2018 GAAP net income is ¥397.36 billion.

Sony's revised outlook comes as it reported that net income for the third fiscal quarter surged to ¥314.89 billion from ¥29.27 billion in the year-ago period.

Factors contributing to the profit growth include the absence of an impairment charge of goodwill recorded in the Pictures segment in the third fiscal quarter of the prior year, in addition to the impact of foreign exchange rates.

Basic EPS for the fiscal quarter came in at ¥234.08, jumping from ¥15.55 a year prior and more than doubling the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate of ¥104.31.

Net sales for the three-month period reached ¥2.28 trillion, compared to ¥2.06 trillion in the year-ago period.

Operating income was ¥350.84 billion, up from ¥92.37 billion a year earlier. All of the group's business segments, except for mobile communications, posted positive operating income growth during the quarter.

Sony's earnings release came the same day that the company announced CEO Kazuo Hirai would step down to be replaced by CFO Kenichiro Yoshida.

As of Feb. 1, US$1 was equivalent to ¥109.45.