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By Bloomberg

Sony Corp. beat analyst profit estimates as it cut costs in the TV division and boosted earnings at the games and financial services businesses.

Operating income more than doubled from a year earlier to 68 billion yen ($569 million) in the 12 months ended March, the company reported Wednesday on a preliminary basis. That compares with the 47.2 billion-yen average of 19 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai’s restructuring has focused on profitability instead of volume growth, stoking Sony’s shares. The company forecast it will raise profit by March 2018 to the highest in two decades as it shifts away from personal computers and TVs to game consoles, entertainment and image sensors used in smartphone cameras.

“We retain the name high in our recommended core holdings,” said Amir Anvarzadeh, a manager of Japanese equity sales at BGC Partners Inc. in Singapore. “It is this term’s forecasts which the market will be looking at now.”

The Tokyo-based company reports final earnings for last fiscal year and the forecast for the current fiscal year on April 30.

Sony was little changed Wednesday, dropping 0.1 percent to 3,676 yen at the close of Tokyo trading, before the announcement. The shares have soared 49 percent this year, compared with a 15 percent gain for the benchmark Topix index.

Financial Services

Sales climbed 5.7 percent to 8.2 trillion yen, beating the company’s February outlook. Net loss narrowed to 126 billion yen, compared with 170 billion yen estimated earlier.

Better-than-expected sales of imaging sensors and the PlayStation 4 console also contributed to the forecast revision, a Sony spokesman, George Boyd, said by telephone.

Sony’s financial services business posted a decrease in provisions for policy reserves, the company said in the statement. Sony Financial Holdings Inc. had operating income of 170 billion yen in the previous fiscal year, more than any other Sony division.

The company didn’t disclose a profit breakdown for its businesses Wednesday.

Hirai in February forecast Sony’s operating profit will climb to 500 billion yen in the year ending March 2018. That’s the highest since 1998, when income was fueled by MiniDisc players and the first “Men in Black” movie.

Anvarzadeh said he expects profit to reach that level this year.