Japan's SoftBank net profit up 84%
SoftBank logged ¥394.9bn yen in net profit as operating profit jumped 66.6% to ¥715.07bn. Sales of smartphones rose while the company also benefited from higher valuation of its shares in subsidiary companies, the huge technology investment company said.
Revenue climbed 72.7% to ¥2.6trn after it took control of US wireless carrier Sprint Nextel in July in a US$21.6bn deal.
"Various sales promotions for iPhone continued to deliver strong sales, contributing to increases in both new subscriptions and handset upgrades," the company said in a statement.
SoftBank was Japan's only provider of Apple's iPhone service until rivals NTT DoCoMo and KDDI joined the fray. Japan's biggest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo finally starting selling iPhones after the launch of the 5S and 5C, staging aggressive campaigns to win back its former clients who had fled to SoftBank.
The company, led by charismatic Masayoshi Son, one of the richest men in Japan, last month announced a US$1.26bn investment in privately held Brightstar, a US specialist distributor of wireless handsets and related services.
The company recently took a majority stake in Finnish game maker Supercell, creator of "Clash of Clans". It is the top shareholder of Japanese game developer GungHo Online Entertainment.
SoftBank said it expected its revenue to exceed six trillion yen for the full year to March, with operating profit rising above one trillion yen.
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge