Without ‘Spider-Man’ Windfall, Sony Pictures Profits Drop, Dampening Group Results

Patrick Frater
·4 min read

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Without a “Spider-Man” movie during the last financial year, Sony’s pictures division was unable to keep up with previous levels of profitability. Games and network services was another weak spot for Sony Group Corporation.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Friday reported full year results for the 12-month period from April 2022 to March 2023 showing group sales rising 16% to JPY11.5 trillion in local currency terms and net profits up 6% to JPY937 billion. (Using current rates of exchange between the US dollar and the Japanese Yen, conglomerate-wide sales were $85.1 billion and net profits $6.94 billion).

The company calculated net earnings per share at JPY755 (or $5.59 apiece). It announced a year-end dividend of JPY40, giving a JPY75 total for the year.

The ‘pictures division,’ which spans feature film, television production and TV network operations, saw sales shading down from $11 billion to $10.14 billion. But profits fell more steeply, dropping by more than half in comparison with the 2021-2022 period. Operating income for the division was reported as $894 million, compared with $1.94 billion.

At the group’s previous results presentation in early February, Sony revealed a board room shuffle with Yoshida Kenichiro, retain his current roles as chairman and CEO and relinquishing the title of president to Totoki Hiroki. But at studio level Sony Pictures seems an oasis of stability compared with some rival businesses and the profits decline compared with a year in which “Spider-Man: No Way Home” delivered a windfall, was largely expected. The $894 profit figure also exceeds the division’s result in each of the previous years, with the exception of 2021-2022.

Sony shares in Japan finished trading in Tokyo on Friday afternoon ahead of the financial statement at JPY12,830 apiece. They are up 15% in 2023 and close to their 12-month high.

In detailed supplementary information alongside the regulatory filing, Sony said that the pictures division had suffered decreased theatrical revenues, lower licensing volume (in comparison with a year when “Seinfeld” was relicensed), and lower volumes of new films moving to digital distribution. But the segment benefited from TV sales deliveries, the acquisitions of Industrial Media and Bad Wolf, and higher revenue from anime streaming.

Sony said that Crunchyroll now has more than 10.7 million streaming subscribers and is generating profits despite amortization costs. Sony’s biggest theatrical movie of the 2022-23 period was “Bullet Train” with a worldwide gross of $242 million.

For the current year to March 2024, the pictures division is forecast to deliver a further 11% revenue growth and profitability to be essentially unchanged. Current year movie releases include “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (June 2023), “Insidious: The Red Door” (July), “Gran Turismo” (August), “Ghostbusters Sequel” (December) and animation title “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” (March 2024).

The pictures unit divisional forecast calculation omits an important upcoming acquisition. The unit is still awaiting regulatory clearance in India for its proposed TV business merger with Zee. This has now been dragging on since later 2021, during which time the media landscape in India has been redrawn by the ascent of JioCinema (and its backers Viacom18 and Reliance Industries Limited) and the consequent weakening of Disney’s position as India’s dominant media player.

Sony’s ‘games & network services’ division managed a 33% leap in sales revenues from JPY2.74 trillion to JPY3.65 trillion, reflecting currency gains and increased hardware sales. “God of War Ragnarok” was a highlight. Operating income dropped by 28%, hurt by cost for game development acquisition costs and fewer third-party games sales. The group is forecasting that GNS will be able to show 7-8% improvements in top and bottom lines in the 2023-24 financial year.

On a later conference call with journalists and financial analysts, Sony said that it is forecasting current year sales of the PS5 console hitting 25 million, which would be a record.

Music was the best performing of Sony’s three entertainment divisions in the year to March 2023. Year-on-year sales increased by 24% in Japanese currency terms, to JPY1.38 trillion, helped by the weakening of the Japanese Yen, by higher recorded music and music publishing revenues, and by paid streaming revenues.

The top revenue contributors from recorded music in the year to March 2023 were Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House,” Beyonce’s “Renaissance”, and SZA’s “SOS.” Miley Cyrus’s “Flowers” was released in January and has been a streaming record-breaker.

For the current year music sector revenues and sales are forecast to be essentially flat.

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