SoftBank Q4 Results: Co swings to profit, eyes on Arm unit
Technology investor SoftBank Group swung to a net profit in the final quarter of its financial year, it said on Monday, as the Japanese giant focuses on artificial intelligence to help fuel a return to growth.
SoftBank Group swung to a net profit in the final of its financial year, it said on Monday, as the focuses on to help fuel a return to growth.booked a profit of 328.9 billion yen ($2.11 billion) in January-March, compared to a loss of 32 billion yen a year earlier. Still, the second straight quarter of profit was not enough to keep it in the black for the full year.
Investors are increasingly focused on the outlook for SoftBank subsidiary , the British chip designer. Arm's prospects are seen as helping fuel SoftBank's push into AI.
SoftBank has said group assets are and that Arm will power companies across the Japanese firm's .
Still, Arm's surging valuation has not contributed to SoftBank profit as Arm is a subsidiary. Whereas Arm reported record January-March sales on licence and revenue, SoftBank booked a 33-billion-yen loss from its Arm investment in the last due to increased expenses related to and hiring.
Arm's headcount grew by more than 1,100 in the year ended March, with more than 80% of net new hires being in engineering.
Most of SoftBank's investments through its unit suffered valuation loss in the fourth quarter, leaving it with a 57.5 billion yen loss. A bright spot came in the form of Coupang which generated around $600 million in unrealised investment gain.
In February, Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto said SoftBank - known for volatile earnings and outsized bets on startups - was returning to a "growth trajectory".
Overall, SoftBank's fourth-quarter net profit compared with a 32 billion yen loss in the same period a year earlier, when raised using its stake cushioned writedowns in the value of Vision Fund private portfolio firms.
($1 = 155.8500 yen)
Source: Stocks-Markets-Economic Times
