Konami H1 profit drops 81.3%

Konami has posted its fiscal results for the six months to September – with profits slipping 81.3 per cent to $24.6 million year-on-year.

Revenues for the period stood at 113.9 billion ($1.26 billion) – down 22.5 percent from the 146.9 billion ($1.63 billion) the firm posted in H1 last year, when it was buoyed by the release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots.

As predicted, H1 2009 profit slipped 81.3 percent to 2.23 billion ($24.6 million), down from the MGS4-enhanced 11.9 billion ($131 million) from the year-ago period.

Konami said that its Pro Evolution Soccer (known also as Winning Eleven) and Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu baseball franchises were the highlights of its fiscal H1, selling a respective 1.25 million and 770,000 respectively. The Metal Gear franchise sold an additional 360,000 units during the period.

The company said it still expects to see slight sales growth during the full fiscal year. It reiterated its previous forecast of 310 billion ($3.43 billion) for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2010 – up on the 309.7 billion ($3.43 billion) it posted in 2008.

Konami anticipates a 47.1 percent jump in profit in FY2009, up to 16 billion ($176 million) from 10.8 billion ($119 million) last year.