Japan's SoftBank Group books $3.5 billion Q4 profit; beats estimates

Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank Group booked a net profit of 517 billion yen ($3.49 billion) for January-March on strong performance from its telecommunications holdings and higher valuations in its later-stage startup holdings.

The result compared with 231 billion yen profit for the same period the previous year and the 26.9 billion yen average loss from five analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.

The results illustrate the risks and rewards of SoftBank's approach of investing in high-growth technology companies - as well as the complexities that shifting valuations pose to those estimating its earnings.

The Vision Fund 1, which invests in later-stage startups, made an investment gain of 940 billion yen, boosted by increases in the fair value of holdings such as TikTok operator Bytedance and e-commerce platform Coupang.

In contrast Vision Fund 2, which invests in earlier-stage startups, booked an investment loss of 526 billion yen.

SoftBank's holdings in mature telecommunications companies, including T-Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom , have been a consistent source of investment gain in recent quarters.

T-Mobile shares hit an all-time high in March and ended the quarter up more than 20%. ($1 = 147.9700 yen)