Sony Group Corp. on Friday reported a record operating profit for fiscal 2022, with sales exceeding 10 trillion yen ($74 billion) for the first time, thanks to robust video game sales and a weaker yen.

Operating profit grew 0.5 percent from a year earlier to an all-time high of 1.21 trillion yen in the year ended March 31, as the company posted its highest ever sales of 11.54 trillion yen, up 16.3 percent, also helped by strong performances from its music and image sensor businesses.

Net profit for the just-ended fiscal year rose 6.2 percent to 937.13 billion yen, the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant said.

The upbeat earnings results came as Sony, which built its brand on the iconic Walkman portable music players and PlayStation game consoles, started the current fiscal year under new president Hiroki Totoki. The former executive deputy president took the helm at the company on April 1, replacing Kenichiro Yoshida.

Totoki is tasked with bolstering new operations such as the electric vehicle business as new pillars to add earnings momentum. The company launched a joint venture with Honda Motor Co. last year to jointly produce EVs.

"There is a huge opportunity there. We are seeing the industry transforming itself," Totoki said of the EV business at an online press conference. "We are going to produce great results with the joint venture with Honda."

Sales in its game and network services division rose 33 percent to 3.64 trillion yen, with the company citing the positive effect of the weaker yen for the result.

Sony said it sold a record 19.1 million PlayStation 5 video game consoles in fiscal 2022, up from 11.5 million units a year earlier, as the easing of a parts shortage boosted production.

It aims to sell 25 million consoles in the current fiscal year, a goal that will make the PS5 its best-selling PlayStation model ever on an annual basis, it said.

Increased revenue from music streaming services and brisk sales of image sensors used in smartphone cameras also pushed up profit, offsetting increased costs for game software development.

For the current fiscal year ending March 2024, the company expects its net profit to fall 10.4 percent to 840 billion yen on sales of 11.5 trillion yen, down 0.3 percent.

As for the macroeconomic environment, Totoki warned of a gloomier outlook for the year ahead as recession fears grow in the United States.

"We are not very optimistic as many overseas authorities are accelerating monetary tightening and the world economy is moving toward economic decoupling," Totoki said.

"We are particularly concerned about the U.S. economy as it has a direct impact on our business," he said.

==Kyodo

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