TOKYO (Reuters) -Sony raised its operating profit forecast for the year ending March 2026 by 8% to 1.43 trillion yen ($9.5 billion) on Tuesday, citing a smaller-than-expected impact from U.S. tariffs and the strength of its entertainment and chips businesses.
Operating profit in the July-September quarter climbed 10% to 429 billion yen after its music unit, which includes anime, and chips businesses recorded higher sales.
Sony cited the success of animated movie "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle" as a contributor.
The Japanese conglomerate was once best known for household electronics but has become an entertainment powerhouse and is banking on the growth of anime.
Profit at Sony's games business fell in the second quarter as the company booked impairment losses related to the "Destiny 2" video game.
User engagement has not met the expectations Sony had when it bought Bungie, a studio, Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao said at a briefing.
Sony sold 3.9 million units of its PlayStation 5, which launched in 2020, during the quarter in a slight increase from the same period a year earlier.
"We plan to expand the install base during the year-end sales season while continuing to balance that expansion with the profitability of the entire segment," Tao said.
Take-Two Interactive said last week it has delayed the release of "Grand Theft Auto VI" for a second time to November next year.
The highly anticipated title is expected to boost Sony's PlayStation business as customers upgrade their consoles or buy specialised gaming hardware for the first time.
Sony said it has sold 3.3 million units of "Ghost of Yotei", which launched last month and has been well received.
Nintendo last week hiked its annual sales forecast for the Switch 2 to 19 million units as consumers flock to the gaming device which launched in June.
Sony, a leading manufacturer of image sensors used in smartphones, cited sales of larger sensors as boosting its chips unit during the quarter.
Customers may have brought forward purchases due to tariffs and other factors, Sony said.
Sony said it sees a 50 billion yen hit from tariffs during the financial year, compared to the 70 billion yen impact estimate in August.
The company said it would buy back up to 35 million shares for some 100 billion yen. Sony's shares closed up 5.5% following the earnings release.
($1 = 150.7800 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Stephen Coates)
