TOKYO. Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony is reporting a 45 per cent surge in fiscal third-quarter profit on tax reductions, a favourable exchange rate and gains in its music segment.

Tokyo-based Sony Corp reported on Friday an October-December profit of 429 billion yen ($3.9 billion), up from 295.9 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. Quarterly sales fell 10 per cent to 2.4 trillion yen ($22 billion).

Other sectors such as games and semiconductors eroded profits, but its movie division, helped by the strong performance of “Venom,” and imaging solutions, used in digital cameras, worked as perks.

Sony raised its profit forecast for the fiscal year through March to 835 billion yen ($7.7 billion) from an earlier 705 billion yen ($6.5 billion). That’s up from 491 billion yen recorded last year.