Softbank stems historic losses and posts a profit

Japanese technology giant SoftBank has returned to profit after posting record losses earlier this year.

From April to June profit rose by 12% to 1.2 trillion yen (£8.78 billion).

The speedy turnaround follows a global rise in tech shares which has helped boost the company's funds.

Gains also came from the sell-down of assets such as wireless carrier T-Mobile following its merger with peer Sprint.

While Masayoshi Son, the daring billionaire who leads the Japanese conglomerate, also sold off assets and bought back shares at unprecedented rates, pushing up SoftBank’s own stock price to its highest value in two decades.

Nevertheless Son, who is known for his unflagging optimism, cast business in the COVID-19 era in martial terms and said the company was taking a defensive tack.

"Every day is like a war," he said. "Cash is the defence for us."

Softbank acknowledged it was worried about a second or third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The company compared the crisis to the hard times of the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

SoftBank announced last month that it is setting up a new subsidiary company to carry out coronavirus tests and will start giving them first to its employees and members of the SoftBank Hawks professional baseball team.

Chip designer Arm is also up for sale with losses at the business deepening in the April to June quarter. Arm used to be a tech darling in the UK and its demise under SoftBank has been tragic.