Sony first-quarter profit falls 31% but sales beat expectations on gaming boost

Sony on Wednesday reported a 31% fall in profit in the first fiscal quarter as its life insurance unit dragged on its bottom line — but solid performance in the company's games business drove a 33% bump in revenues.

Here's how Sony did in the June quarter versus Refinitiv consensus estimates:

Revenue: 3 trillion Japanese yen ($20.7 billion) versus 2.46 trillion yen expected. That represents a 33% year-on-year rise.Operating profit: 253 billion Japanese yen versus 251.24 billion yen expected. That marks a 31% year-on-year fall.

Sony is expecting a bumper year for its PlayStation gaming business. The company previously said it expects to sell a record 25 million PlayStation 5 units in the current financial year, which ends on March 2024 — compared with 19.1 million units in the previous year.

This is a breaking news story and it is being updated.