PlayStation helps Sony post record profits

STORY: PlayStation sales helped drive Sony to a good year.

Annual profits hit a record of around $8.9 billion, and gaming played a big part in that.

Now the firm says sales of its flagship console will jump by six million units this year.

Shipments are soaring after the end of production disruption caused by the health crisis and chip shortages.

The company says it can now deliver PlayStations almost anywhere in the world without delay.

It expects to sell a record 25 million of the consoles over the year - more than double the number it sold two years ago.

A strong performance by music and movies also boosted the bottom line.

And that strength is expected to continue this year.

But Sony says a weak showing by its financial services business will dent income.

It expects profits for that unit to fall by a fifth.

Put it all together and Sony predicts operating profit over the year to the end of March will drop 3.2% - that’s worse than analysts expected.