A weaker yen and strong demand for Sony’s digital cameras have sent the Japanese electronics company’s profits to record levels for the first quarter.

Sony has beat analysts’ forecasts concerning its profits for the first quarter, announcing an operating profit of 99.32 billion yen ($825.6 million) for the April-June    period, up from 27.05 billion a year earlier. This marks an all time record for Sony’s first fiscal quarter.

The two main reasons for the impressive revenues are the weaker yen and the strong demand for digital cameras, which managed to compensate the losses Sony is still forced to cope with at its PlayStation division. But Howard Stringer’s three year recovery program (now in its final stage) is also showing some positive results, after the massive job cuts and the factory shutdowns operated since he was appointed CEO.

Sony’s profits could have been even better had the company seen better sales for its PlayStation 3 gaming console. The Bravia division of flat TVs (a domain where Sony is in heavy competition with the likes of Sony or Panasonic) has also registered losses.

The ailing electronics and entertainment behemoth lost over £100 million from its games division in Japan over the last quarter. The loss is being attributed to poor sales of the PlayStation 3 console, which was even outsold many times over by its elderly predecessor, the PS2. Things are expected to repeat in 2008 too.

The ¥29 billion (£118 million) deficit at the games division comes on the back of sales of just over 700,000 PS3s in Japan between April and June. In contrast, the PlayStation 2 sold 2.7 million in the same period. However, the PlayStation Portable managed a respectable rise to just over 2 million sales in the quarter.

Analysts had previously indicated that Sony would win around 52 billion yen for the first fiscal quarter.

"They didn't have much in the way of new products during the quarter but they seem to have done quite well despite that. Overall, the results leave a good impression" said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments, cited by Reuters.

"The earnings came in way above expectations and the shares will react to that," said Masaki Iso, chief investment officer at Yasuda Asset Management, in an interview with Reuters Estimates. "But worries about its business do remain -- such as slide in prices for liquid crystal display TVs and a wider loss for its PlayStation."