Record profits once again for Nintendo

In contrast to some of the severe losses suffered by the world’s biggest publishers last year, Wii and DS platform holder Nintendo has posted record numbers for its financial year ending March 31st.

Full-year profits hit YEN 279.1bn ($2.8bn), an increase on the YEN 257.3bn seen in the year before. Operating profit increased 14 per cent to hit YEN 555.26bn.

Results for the quarter ending March 31st were not so good, howevwer, with operating profit decreasing from YEN 93.18bn last year to YEN 53.93bn, a drop of 42 per cent. Sales were also down 15 per cent to YEN 302.27bn.

As a result of the numbers Nintendo now predicts operating profits to fall 11.8 per cent in its next financial year, though it also expects a 7.5 per cent rise in profits. Also predicted are flat sales of its Wii consoles and a four per cent drop in sales of the DS.

It is true these numbers are below market expectations,” analyst Mitsushige Akino told Reuters. But they are not at all surprising as they tend make conservative predictions initially. Having said that, a period of break-neck growth now seems to be behind them.”

Nintendo’s stock price has fallen 21 per cent on the Japanese Nikkei exchange since the beginning of 2009 – six per cent behind the Nikkei average.