Sony posts quarterly net profit of $35m

Sony Corp posted a net profit of 3.48 billion yen (35 million dollars) in the April-to-June quarter on a weaker yen and strong sales of smartphones, the company said Thursday. It was a turn around from a net loss of 24.64 billion yen in the same period last year. The Japanese consumer electronics maker also booked an operating profit of 36.4 billion yen for the April-to-June period, compared with an operating loss of 6.3 billion yen a year ago, while sales were up 13 per cent to 1.71 trillion yen. Sony raised a sales outlook for the current financial year to March 2014 to 7.9 trillion yen from 7.5 trillion yen it had estimated three months ago. The company maintained its net profit forecast at 50 billion yen and operating profit outlook at 230 billion yen for the year. For the previous financial year, which ended in March, Sony returned to the black for the first time in five years thanks to a weaker yen and rising share prices. The company posted a net profit of 43 billion yen for the year, a turnaround from a record annual net loss of 456.7 billion yen for fiscal 2011.