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The electronics and entertainment giant also said its chief
financial officer, Hiroki Totoki, would become president and
chief operating officer from April 1, while retaining his
current role.
Incumbent president Kenichiro Yoshida will remain as chairman
and chief executive officer.
"I'm obsessed with growth. Any businesses and companies tend to
go into a negative spiral if growth stalls," Totoki told a news
conference on Thursday.
"By realising growth, I would like to create a positive spiral
where we are chosen by customers and our employees are energised."
The company said it now expects operating profit for the year to
March 31 to total 1.18 trillion yen ($9.17 billion), up 1.7%
from its previous forecast of 1.16 trillion yen.
That remains short of analysts' average estimate of a 1.19
trillion yen profit, according to Refinitiv data, and just shy
of a record profit of 1.2 trillion yen posted a year earlier.
Sony said sales of its Playstation 5 consoles came to 7.1
million units in the October-December quarter, which overlaps
with the critical year-end shopping season, up sharply from 3.9
million units a year earlier.
"Various steps we have been taking on both the hardware and
software sides are steadily bearing fruit. I believe we are
generating positive momentum to re-accelerate growth in our game
operations," Totoki said.
Sony, which competes with Xbox maker Microsoft Corp and Switch
provider Nintendo Co Ltd in the game sector, struggled last year
to produce enough PlayStation 5 units due to supply chain
snarls.
Totoki said risks associated with supply chains have not been
resolved yet, and the company boosted game console production
sharply in the October-December quarter so it can safely meet
demand in the current quarter.
For October-December, Sony posted a 7.8% fall in operating
profit as its film division fared worse than a year ago, when a
blockbuster "Spider-Man: No Way Home" movie drove its profit.
($1 = 128.6800 yen)
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Mayu Sakoda Editing by Shri
Navaratnam, David Dolan,Simon Cameron-Moore and Sharon
Singleton)
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