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Sony’s 1st-Quarter Profit More Than Doubles

Sony Corp. said Thursday that a weak yen favoring sales of its mainstay electronics products helped more than double its first-quarter profit.

In the entertainment business, Sony’s group sales rose more than 24% to $2.5 billion partly because of the success of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s “Jerry Maguire,” the hit film starring Tom Cruise.

However, operating income totaled $80.5 million, down from a year earlier despite the stronger performance of the company’s studio because a year earlier Sony booked a significant chunk of income from a major German TV deal. Profits from Sony’s other recent hits, such as “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Men in Black” and “Air Force One,” will show up in future quarters.

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The Japanese consumer electronics giant announced an overall group net profit of $295 million in the three months to June 30, compared with earnings of $144 million in the same period a year earlier. The company also revised upward its profit forecast for the full year to March 1998 to $1.42 billion from its May outlook of $1.35 billion.

Sony said a boom in its electronics business, in which group sales grew more than 22% in the quarter, was due mainly to robust sales of its consumer electronics products, including its 32-bit home game player, the PlayStation, and digital camcorders.

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