Sony hikes annual profit forecast by 4%, citing smaller trade war impact

TOKYO (Reuters) -Sony raised its full-year operating profit forecast on Thursday by 4% to 1.33 trillion yen ($9.01 billion), citing a diminished impact from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.

In May, Sony forecast a profit of 1.28 trillion yen, factoring in a 100 billion yen hit from the tariffs.

The Japanese conglomerate has transformed from a maker of household electronics such as the Walkman to an entertainment behemoth spanning games, movies, music and chips.

Sony reported a 36.5% rise in operating profit to 340 billion yen for the April-June quarter, beating an estimate of 288 billion yen from eight analysts surveyed by LSEG.

($1 = 147.5700 yen)

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Muralikumar Anantharaman)