Japan’s SoftBank Group posted a net profit of 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion) in the three months to September, as the technology giant benefited from rising share prices of companies included in investment vehicles in its Vision Fund.
The results significantly exceeded expectations of a profit of 287 billion yen ($1.87 billion), based on the average of four analyst estimates compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group, and compared to a loss of 931 billion yen in the same period last year.
The results show that SoftBank’s more cautious approach to investing is paying off. Investment giant Masayoshi Son was forced into a prolonged period of austerity when interest rate increases caused the value of its holdings in high-growth technology startups to collapse.
Now some of those valuations are starting to recover, pushing the Vision Fund unit to an investment gain of 608 billion yen. In four of the past five quarters, the unit has been in good shape.
But while Vision Fund 1 has generated total gains of $22.6 billion since its inception, this has been largely offset by Vision Fund 2’s loss of $21 billion.
The yen’s recovery against the dollar during the quarter resulted in a gain of 289 billion yen as dollar-denominated liabilities could be more easily funded in yen.
