Japanese internet and energy company SoftBank Group Corp. reported on Wednesday a more than 11-fold surge in profit for the fiscal third quarter thanks to strong sales and to improved results from US carrier Sprint.
SoftBank, which also owns stakes in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and British computer chip and software giant Arm, said its October-December profit was 912.3 billion yen ($8.4 billion), up from 80.3 billion yen a year earlier, AP reported.
Quarterly sales rose 3.9% to 2.4 trillion yen ($22 billion).
The Tokyo-based company, which sells the Pepper robot, did not give annual forecasts, citing uncertainties, as is its usual policy.
SoftBank was the first carrier to offer the Apple iPhone in Japan and is buying a major stake in Uber.
Last year, it set up a major fund to invest in various technology companies.
It said Wednesday that it will do a share offering for its Japanese telecommunications company in Japan to raise cash for more investments.
