Sony improves its sales target for the PS5 and brings its outlook closer to a record high.

TOKYO, 2 February (Reuters) - Sony Group Corp (6758.T) of Japan lifted its annual profit projection on Thursday, aided by a good performance for its videogame division, and increased its PlayStation 5 game system sales target by one million units to 19 million for the fiscal year ending March.

 

Hiroki Totoki, the company's chief financial officer, will also become president and chief operating officer on April 1, while continuing in his existing post.

Kenichiro Yoshida, the current president, will continue as chairman and CEO.

The business now anticipates operational profit to equal 1.18 trillion yen ($9.17 billion) for the fiscal year ending March 31, up 1.7% from its prior prediction of 1.16 trillion yen.

 

According to Refinitiv statistics, this is still short of experts' average projection of a 1.19 trillion yen profit and slightly shy of the previous year's record profit of 1.2 trillion yen.

Sony reported 7.1 million PS5 console sales in the October-December quarter, which overlaps with the important year-end shopping season, up dramatically from 3.9 million units a year earlier.

 

" Various efforts we've taken on both the hardware and software fronts are bearing fruit. "I believe we are building strong momentum to re-accelerate growth in our gaming business," Totoki said during a post-earnings conference call.

Due to supply chain snarls, Sony failed to deliver enough PlayStation 5 consoles last year.

 

Totoki stated that concerns linked with supply chains have not yet been handled, and that the business increased game console manufacturing significantly in the October-December quarter in order to satisfy demand securely in the current quarter.