Sony's net profit in 2nd quarter of 2015 more than tripled

Japanese tech giant Sony Corp. said Thursday that its net profit in the second quarter of 2015 more than tripled from a year earlier, bolstered by strong sales of camera sensors and the yen's depreciation, local media reported.

The company's group net profit surged to 82.44 billion yen ( about 666.7 million U.S. dollars) in the three months period from April to June, up from 26.81 billion yen (215.95 million dollars) in the same period of last year. Its operating profit rose to 96.9 billion yen (780.8 million dollars), up 38.8 percent on yearly basis.

The Tokyo-based company said sales in its "devices" division, which includes image sensors, rose 35.1 percent on year, with operating profit more than doubling to 30.3 billion yen (244.06 million dollars). Sales in Sony's game and network services division also jumped more than 12 percent on Play Station 4 software sales and PS4 peripheral device unit sales.

The yen's depreciation offset lower sales of its smartphones and televisions, according to the company.

Sony expects to return to the black in fiscal 2015 for the first time in three years with a group net profit of 1.12 billion dollars. Operating profit is projected to reach 2.57 billion dollars on sales of 63.63 billion dollars.

The earnings results came after the Japanese entertainment and electronics giant announced its first capital raising plan for the first time since 1989 last month. It planned to raise around 3.54 billion dollars through new share and convertible bond to expand the image sensor business. Endi