Sony announced its financial results for the fiscal year 2005/2006 in Tokyo today. In year one under the leadership of Welshman Sir Howard Stringer, the Japanese electronics giant posted a net profit of 123.62 billion yen ($1.08 billion US) on sales of 7475.44 billion yen ($65.03 billion US).

Sony Computer Entertainment contributed sales of 958.6 billion yen ($8.34 billion US) and an operating profit of 8.7 billion yen ($75.68 million US) to these figures. This translates to a 31.4% increase in sales and a decline of 79.7% in profit. The decline in profit can be attributed to the development costs of the company's next-generation console PlayStation 3. The increase in sales is a direct result of the PlayStation Portable's success. After ramping up production capabilities, Sony Computer Entertainment managed to ship 14.06 million units of the handheld system during the 12-month period. During the same period, the company also shipped 16.22 million PlayStation 2 units.

For the current fiscal year ending on March 31st 2007, the shipment of six million PlayStation 3, 12 million PlayStation Portable and ten million PlayStation 2 units is projected. The worldwide launch of PlayStation 3 in November is one of the key factors expected to drive up Sony's annual sales by about 10% during the current fiscal year. Specifically, Sony is projecting a net profit of 130 billion yen ($1.13 billion US) on sales of 8200 billion yen ($71.33 billion US) for this fiscal year.

• CNet Japan