Sony reported increased sales and operating income in its imaging products segment, which includes professional video gear, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019. The improved performance helped drive overall gains at Sony, which saw adjusted operating income increase by 14% in the same period.
Camera sales benefited from a shift away from “compact digital cameras” to mirrorless cameras and interchangeable lenses, Sony said. Imaging product sales were up 14.6% to $6.0 billion for fiscal 2018, while operating income for the segment grew 9.1%, reaching $753.4 million.
Sony logged those gains despite an overall decrease in the number of digital cameras sold to 3.6 million units compared to 4.4 million in the previous year. Pro video and cinema cameras are a much smaller part of that category.
News was mixed from Sony’s movie and television business, where overall revenue dipped 24.2 percent to $8.9 billion, but operating income actually increased by a healthy 13.5% to $489.9 million. Ticket sales, television production revenue and advertising and subscription revenues all declined last year, but income still increased thanks to improved profitability in the movie business and a new accounting standard that benefited the numbers to the tune of $34.1 million. Sony made an aggressive forecast for 2019, predicting a 9% increase in revenue driven by its motion picture and television production operations.
