Sony Corporation announced its consolidated financial results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014. Sales and operating revenue were 2,566.7 billion yen ($21,213 million), an increase of 6.5% compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.
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This increase is primarily due to the favorable impact of foreign exchange rates, a significant increase in Mobile Communications (MC) segment sales reflecting an increase in unit sales of smartphones, a significant increase in Devices segment sales due to the strong performance of image sensors, and a significant increase in Game & Network Services (G&NS) segment sales reflecting the strong performance of PlayStation 4 (PS4).[break]
This increase was partially offset by a significant decrease in sales in All Other, primarily related to Sony’s exit from the PC business, and a decrease in sales in the Pictures segment, mainly due to lower Motion Pictures and Television Productions sales. On a constant currency basis, sales decreased by 0.3% year-on-year.
Operating income increased 93.2 billion yen year-on-year to 182.1 billion yen (1,505 million). This significant increase was primarily due to a significant improvement in the operating results of the Devices, Home Entertainment & Sound (HE&S), G&NS, and Imaging Products & Solutions (IP&S) segments.
This improvement was partially offset by a significant decrease in operating income in the Pictures segment. Equity in net loss of affiliated companies, recorded within operating income, of 0.1 billion yen ($1 million) was recorded, compared to income of 1.7 billion yen in the same period of the previous fiscal year. This deterioration was mainly due to a deterioration of equity in net income (loss) for EMI Music Publishing.
The net effect of other income and expenses was an expense of 14.3 billion yen ($118 million), a deterioration of 13.7 billion yen year-on-year primarily due to a decrease in the gain on sales of securities investments. In the same quarter of the previous fiscal year, a 7.4 billion yen gain on the sale of Sony’s share in SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings Inc. was recorded. ■