Q2 PROFITS UP AT SONY MUSIC

While Sony Corp. posted tough second quarter financial results, Sony Music was once again a profitable division, reporting an 8% (19% on a constant currency basis) increase in sales to $1.49b. Operating income was up 16% to $164m.

The figures are the combined results of Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which became a wholly owned subsidiary in the quarter when Sony acquired the 50% of the publisher owned by the estate of Michael Jackson.

Hits driving the quarter, Sony reported, came from outside the U.S.: Celine Dion's Encore un soir; Nogizaka46’s Hadashi de Summer and Kana Nishino’s Just Love were the biggies.

Sony Corp.'s overall net profit for the July to September period fell 86% from a year earlier, $45.8m vs. $3.2b. Sales dropped nearly 11% in the quarter as the strong yen hurt earnings of Japanese exporters.

Sony's film unit posted an operating profit of $32m, compared to a of $187m loss in the 2015 Q2. Theatrical revenues helped push sales up almost 5% to $1.9b. Hits on the film side included “Ghostbusters” and “Pixels,” neither of which, the company said, met its financial targets.