It's best known for its playstation games consoles, but
that's not what's driving profits at Sony right now.
In fact, sales of the gaming machines were down
over the first quarter and it expects to sell nearly
3 million fewer than the year before. But profits
at the tech and entertainment group which makes music,
movies, games and chips still rose over the last
quarter increasing 10% to$1.9 billion. Beating analyst forecasts
rising sales of image sensors was one driver with Sony
, a big supplier to smartphone makers a week.
Yen has also helped the firm boosting the value of
its overseas earnings. However, that could now be
changing with a recent rise for the Japanese currency,
prompting investors to reassess their calculations for the country's big
firms. That has been one factor in the recent
turmoil for Japanese stocks which saw heavy falls earlier in
the week before bouncing back. The wider gaming industry
also faces a battle with headwinds including rising costs.
Last week. Sony owned game developer Bungee said it
was cutting almost 1/5 of its workforce as a result