TOKYO, July 31 (Reuters) - Sony ( SONY ) reported on Friday

a 40% rise in first-quarter operating profit, beating analyst

estimates.

Profit in the April-June quarter was 476.5 billion yen

($2.97 billion). That compared with an average estimate of 361

billion yen from 11 analysts polled by LSEG.

($1 = 160.5000 yen)

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)