TOKYO: Japan's Sony Group Corp on Thursday raised its annual operating profit forecast by 1.7%, helped by its PlayStation game division, but the latest outlook still misses analysts' estimates narrowly.

The electronics and entertainment giant now expects its operating profit for the year to March 31 to total 1.18 trillion yen ($9.17 billion), up from its previous forecast, announced in November, of a 1.16 trillion yen profit.

The revised projection falls short of analysts' average estimate of a 1.19 trillion yen profit, according to Refinitiv data, and is just shy of a record profit of 1.2 trillion yen posted a year earlier.

Sony said sales of its PlayStation 5 videogame consoles came to 7.1 million units in October-December quarter, which overlaps with the critical year-end shopping season, up sharply from 3.9 million units a year earlier.

 - Reuters