Sony surges by $3.3bn boosted by James Bond film and Adele's new album

Sony gained $3.3bn (€3bn) of market value after reporting better-than-expected profit with a huge helping hand from Hollywood, music, and games last quarter.

The shares climbed 12% to 2,836 yen in Tokyo yesterday, the biggest rise since October 2008, compared with a 2% advance for the Nikkei 225 Stock Average.

Sony’s net income surged to 120.1bn yen (€915m) in the December quarter.

Sony gave due credit on Friday to both the James Bond film Spectre and record-breaking sales of Adele’s 25, which was not available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Games, its biggest division by sales, sold more PlayStation 4 consoles and software titles to help offset a plunge in sensor orders from smartphone customers such as Apple and Samsung.

“Results contained a mix of positives and negatives, but were slightly positive on balance,” Mika Nishimura, a Tokyo-based analyst at Credit Suisse Group, wrote in a report.

“Positives included brisk results from games, music, and other businesses, and confirmation of steady progress on structural improvements in the mobile segment.”

Sony reported third-quarter profit in the mobile business more than doubled from a year ago to 24.1bn yen, despite a negative impact from the weaker yen.

The company cited a shift to high value-ended models and cost reductions.