TOKYO: Sony Group Corp on Friday posted a record annual profit due to strong performance at its music and microchip units, but the company predicted a smaller profit for the year to next March.

Operating profit at the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate came to 1.21 trillion yen ($8.96 billion) for the year ended March 31, up 0.5% on the year.

For the current business year, Sony expects its operating profit to fall 3.2% to 1.17 trillion yen.

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That compares with analysts’ average estimate of a 1.275 trillion yen profit, according to Refinitiv data. Sony, which competes with Xbox maker Microsoft Corp and Switch provider Nintendo Co Ltd, sold 19.1 million units of the PlayStation 5 (PS5) videogame machine in the past business year, up from 11.5 million a year earlier.

Sony struggled to meet PS5 demand earlier in the previous business year due to supply chain problems, but managed to boost console output later as parts supply improved.