Sony Q3 financial report: Less sales but increased profit.

Sony posted the full Q3 financial results (PDF file here). Here are a couple of key info:

1) The overall Sony Net income increased 21%
2) In the imaging segment Sony reports a 5% decrease in sales. But the profit had a 4.0 bln yen increase. The profit has been achieved thanks to cost cuts and “improvement in the product mix of digital cameras”
3) Q4 Forecast for the imaging segment: Sales estimation is 10 bln yen less than expected. This because of “Lower than expected sales of broadcast- and professional-use products”. But Sony also increased the operative income forecast (5 bln yen upward revision) because of “a shift to high value-added models”
4) For the first time after many years Sony reports a decrease in Image Sensor Sales (-12% sales). This reflects the current “crisis” of the smartphone market.

Overall the news is good for Sony. Like any other company the digital camera business sales are shrinking. But Sony shift towards high-end products with higher net margin is paying off.