Sony Reports Best-Ever Third Quarter Profit

The Sony Corp. headquarters stands in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg The Sony Corp. headquarters stands in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg
<center>The Sony Corp. headquarters stands in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg</center>

Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation; Sony Corp. on Friday reported a nearly four-fold jump in third-quarter operating profit on growing demand for its image sensors, and raised its full-year earnings outlook.

The electronics firm posted an operating profit of 350.8 billion yen (USD$3.20 billion) for the October-December quarter, up from 92.4 billion yen a year ago. That was Sony’s highest third-quarter profit ever and far above a consensus estimate of 240.8 billion yen from 10 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sony raised its profit forecast for the year ending March to 720 billion yen from 630 billion yen, its best ever in its 72-year-old history.

That compared with a consensus estimate of 680.93 billion yen from 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

While in other news, Sony’s CEO Kazuo Hirai will be replaced by CFO Kenichiro Yoshida, effective April 1st.

source: Reuters