TOKYO — Sony Group Corp., the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant, said Friday its yearly profit fell 3.4% but forecast a return to record profits in the current fiscal year.
Japanese electronics giant Sony said its net profit for the year through March was 1.03 trillion yen ($6.6 billion) vs 1.07 trillion yen in the previous fiscal year.
Its profit was harmed by scrapping a proposal to launch an electric vehicle with Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co. Sony, which has film, music and video-game activities, said the rising costs of computer processors also hit profit and are a concern.
Sony expects a record profit of 1.16 trillion yen ($7.4 billion) this fiscal year, up 13 percent from the just-ended year.
Sony’s annual sales for the just-ended fiscal year climbed 3.7% from a year ago to nearly 12.5 trillion yen ($8 billion), helped by popular movies such as the latest in the “Demon Slayer” series and “Kokuho,” and solid demand for games and network services.
Sony, the maker of the Bravia and PlayStation brands as well as the "Spider-Man" movies, said quarterly profit fell 63% to 83 billion yen ($529 million) from 224 billion yen in the year-ago period.
The firm, which has musical artists including Bad Bunny and Sza, reported an 8% rise in quarterly sales to 3 trillion yen ($19 billion).
Sony is banking on strong sales from upcoming movies like “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “Jumanji: Open World” to buoy its bottom line for the current fiscal year.
Sony also announced Friday it will buy back as much as 230 million shares worth up to 500 billion yen ($3.2 billion).
Sony shares, which have traded recently around 3,000 yen ($19), climbed 1% Friday.
