Sony on Thursday reported increased sales of the PlayStation 4 and image sensors for the year ended March 31, although those sales were increase partially offset by a significant decrease in sales of the company's other businesses, primarily related to Sony’s exit from the PC business. The Japanese company's sales and operating revenue were 8,215.9 billion yen (68,466 million U.S. dollars), an increase of 5.8% compared to the previous fiscal year.

Operating income increased 42.1 billion yen year-on-year to 68.5 billion yen (571 million U.S. dollars). This significant increase was primarily due to an improvement in the operating results of the company's Devices (image sensors; batteries, recording media and data recording systems), Game & Network Services (G&NS ) and Home Entertainment & Sound (HE&S) segments. However, this improvement was again partially offset by a deterioration in operating results in the Mobile Communications (MC) segment, primarily due to a 176.0 billion yen (1,467 million U.S. dollars) impairment of goodwill.

Operating income will probably jump more than fourfold to 320 billion yen ($2.7 billion) in the year started April 1, led by image sensors and movies, the company said Thursday. The projection compares with the 401.6 billion-yen average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Forecast

The Japanese company expects its operating income to probably jump more than fourfold to 320 billion yen ($2.7 billion) in the year started April 1, led by image sensors and movies.

Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai is cutting costs and focusing on profitability in businesses where Sony has an advantage. That approach, coupled with Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida’s emphasis on accountability, is restoring shareholder confidence in a company that cut earnings forecasts 15 times in seven years.

Sales will be 7.9 trillion yen this year, Sony said. Net income will reach 140 billion yen, the first profit in three years.

Sony forecast a 17 percent surge in devices and a 16 percent rise in the pictures division.

The company also forecast a 40 billion-yen operating profit in the games division. The company is strengthening its game streaming service with a purchase of patents of OnLive. PlayStation Now is available in North America for streaming content on Bravia TVs and other Sony devices.

New smartphone development for China has been halted and Sony is culling the Xperia lineup as it struggles to compete with Apple, Samsung Electronics and Chinese vendors. The company took a 180 billion-yen charge in the business last fiscal year.

Sony forecast operating losses from its mobile communications unit will shrivel to 39 billion yen this year from a 217.6 billion yen loss in the previous year, as it cuts costs to cope with falling sales.