Nintendo expects wider full-year loss of ¥65 billion
Company swings to loss in 9 month results; 3DS sales expected to be below estimates at 14m
Nintendo has recorded a net loss of ¥48.3 billion ($623.4m) for the nine months ended December 2011, compared to a profit of ¥49.5 billion for the previous year.
Net sales for the period were ¥556.1 billion ($7.1bn), down from the ¥807.9 billion. Nintendo said sales were down due to the early 3DS price cut and reduction in price of the Wii console, with the impact of strong yen against foreign currencies hitting overall profits.
As a result, the company now expects a full year net loss of ¥65 billion compared to previous estimates of a ¥20 billion loss. Profit for the previous financial year was ¥77.6 billion.
Sales are expected to be down from ¥790 billion to ¥660 billion.
During the nine months Nintendo sold 11.43 million 3DS units, with worldwide lifetime sales now at over 15 million. Software sales were 28.04 million units with the company acknowledging "slows sales in the first half" of the year.
It expects to finish the financial year with 14 million 3DS units sold, down from estimates of 16 million. Wii forecasts were also lowered, from 12 million to 10 million units.
Sales of DS hardware during the nine months was 4.64 million units with 51.2 million games sold worldwide.
The Wii home console sold 8.96 million units and 89.06 million games with the company noting success for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword "especially in the United States."
I found this these numbers surprising, so I dug into the financial report a bit:
[link url=http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2012/120126e.pdf
]http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2012/12...[/link]
Seems the main culprits were the continued strength of the yen (exchange losses cost $500m-$1bn), devaluation of stock (as 3DS & Wii prices dropped - trade prices?).
Additionally, over the same period (all 9 month figures I think) "Property, plant & equipment" was up 10% (around $100m), and "Investments and other assets" increased around 40%(!) by around $500m (overall assets remained about the same, as this was offset by the drop in inventory values).
The fact the couldn't make their 3DS forecast is disappointing though (even after the price drop).
The other killer fact, is that although their net sales dropped 30% (approx), their cost of sales barely budged. Reflecting that the majority of their costs are "fixed" (development, non-per-unit production). A 10% increase in sales, would have turned a (net) loss of $200m into a profit of $350m.
A lot now lies on the shoulders of the WiiU ... lets see if they can avoid the mistakes of the 3DS launch.
Posted:A year ago