MUMBAI: Sony Corp reported a record second-quarter profit thanks to heavy demand for smartphone image sensors. The company’s quarterly operating profit jumped by 16 per cent.

Operating income for the company stood at 278.96 billion yen ($2.56 billion for the July-September quarter, above the 239.5 billion yen in the same period a year earlier while the result beat an average estimate of 235.13 billion yen. Moreover, Sony raised its annual profit forecast to 840 billion yen from an earlier estimate of 810 billion yen.

The sales for the quarter increased 8 per cent year-on-year to 260.6 billion yen and operating income increased a significant 67 per cent year-on-year to 39.3 billion yen.

“The increase in profit was primarily due to the contribution of Spider-Man: Far From Home, which, having exceeded $ 1.1 billion in global box office revenue, is the highest-grossing film of all time for Sony Pictures Entertainment, and an improvement in the profitability of Media Networks due to the benefit of the portfolio review and improved profitability in India,” the company said.