TOKYO—Sony Corp. raised its forecast for its full-year operating profit by nearly $800 million, capping a strong run of results by Japanese electronics makers benefiting from China’s revived economy and pandemic technology trends.
Sony was hit by U.S. sanctions on Huawei Technologies Co. because it supplies camera parts to the Chinese smartphone maker, but overcame the blow to post operating profit of 318 billion yen, equivalent to about $3 billion, in the July-September quarter. It raised its operating-profit projection for the full fiscal year ending March 2021 to about $6.7 billion.
Other Japanese suppliers of electronics for smartphones and cars have similarly revised their projections upward in recent days. Except for some Huawei suppliers, business with China is improving.
“We got off to a slow start because of the coronavirus, but since then, we’ve really hit our stride, and revenue and profit have improved quite a bit,” said Shigenobu Nagamori, chief executive of motor maker Nidec Corp., referring to the fiscal year that started in April. Nidec, which gets a quarter of its revenue from China, said it expected further improvement the rest of this year and next year.
The Japanese results are another example of the “K-shaped” recovery in which some industries have quickly recovered from coronavirus-related shutdowns while others such as airlines and retailers remain in a deep slump like the bottom arm of the letter K. One of Japan’s major airlines, ANA Holdings Inc., said this week that it expected a loss of nearly $5 billion this fiscal year.
