SoftBank Group Corp has reported a surge in profits for its third quarter as the stock market rally and asset sales helped drive a recovery in its business.
On Monday, the Japanese conglomerate reported a net profit for the quarter to December 31 of 1.17 trillion Japanese Yen (US$11.1bn), up from 55bn Yen (US$520.7mln) the previous year and ahead of analyst estimates of a 98.5bn Yen (US$932.6mln) profit.
READ: SoftBank eyes earnings recovery in third quarter amid surge in IPOs
Looking back on the nine-months to the end of 2020, SoftBank reported gains on several investments during the pandemic, notably food delivery app DoorDash Inc (NYSE:DASH) and taxi app Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER), which it attributed to “strong stock price performance”. The company also reported gains from the merger of telecoms group T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) and Sprint.
Meanwhile, SoftBank said it has also completed the sale or monetisation of assets worth 5.6 trillion Yen (US$53bn) in the six months to September from April, partially through the sale of T-Mobile shares as well as those of Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA).
Despite the uplift, the company said it will not provide forecasts of consolidated results of operations as they are “difficult to project due to numerous uncertainties affecting earnings”.