Sony’s TV Business Generated 7.9% Sales Increase Q1, Despite Unit Decline

Q1 sales in Sony’s core Home Entertainment & Sound product sector increased 8.9 percent to $2.3 billion ($1 = 112 yen), mainly on the “improvement in product mix reflecting a shift to high value-added models” of TVs such as 4K sets that was “partially offset” by an unspecified decline in TV unit sales, the company said Tuesday in its quarterly financial release. The shift toward premium TV models also pushed operating profit in the sector 11.6 percent higher to $201.8 million, Sony said. In its latest financial disclosure, Sony dispensed with its recent practice of releasing actual TV unit sales and forecasts, but said sales of the OLED TVs it launched in the spring (see 1705010056) “continue to be strong.” Sony’s TV business -- the biggest portion of Home Entertainment & Sound -- generated $1.6 billion in Q1 revenue, 7.9 percent higher than in Q1 a year earlier, the company said.