Strong sales of games consoles and movies and the Hollywood hit Spider-Man have fuelled profits at the world's largest electronics and entertainment company, Sony.

As did Spider-Man, the movie

Operating profits soared to almost 52bn yen (�284m; $447m) from just 3bn yen a year earlier while net profits doubled to almost 60bn yen.

The sharp rise in profits for the April to June quarter enabled the company to reiterate its full-year profit forecast, despite the recent rise in the strength of the Japanese currency, the yen.

Sony's sales rose 5.4% during the three months.

"Despite uncertainty over the global economic situation, we achieved record sales for any first quarter," Sony said.

Concerns about the future

Cost reductions and 13,700 job cuts during the 12 months to March this year have helped improve Sony's bottom line.

But the rising yen continues to worry analysts after it recently reached its highest level in 17 months.

This is because Sony earns two thirds of its income outside Japan.

On Tuesday this week, Sony's share price fell to its lowest level in a year.

Sony closed up 0.19% ahead of the results announcement.