Nintendo posts 9-month sales up 17%

Nintendo has reported its financial results for the nine month period to the end of December 2008, with an unsurprisingly strong showing - although the company has revised its full year net profit forecast down significantly.

Sales of the Wii and DS consoles propelled the company to JPY 1.5 trillion (USD 17.0 billion) in sales, a rise of 17 per cent on the previous year, while operating profit was up 27 per cent to JPY 501 billion (USD 5.6 billion).

However, it was noted that recurring and net profits fell by 18 per cent due to a JPY 174 billion (USD 1.9 billion) revaluation of assets held in currencies other than the yen, which is particularly strong.

In total Nintendo has now shipped 96.2 million DS consoles, with over 533 million games, and 45 million Wii consoles with over 312 million games. Particular software highlights included Wii Fit, which boasts a lifetime-to-date figure of 14 million, and Mario Kart Wii, which has shipped 13.7 million units.

For the remaining three months of the company's fiscal year, the estimate for DS console sales has been revised upwards by 3 per cent to 31.5 million, while DS software has been revised down by 7 per cent to 193 million units.

Meanwhile Wii hardware and software sales estimates were both revised downwards by 3 per cent to 26.5 million and 193 million units respectively.

The forecast for the full year financial results were all revised downwards, with revenues expected to hit JPY 1.8 trillion (USD 20.2 billion) - down 9 per cent on October 2008's estimate, but still up 8.8 per cent on the year.

However, net profit is expected to be hit sharply, with the expected final figure now at JPY 230 billion (USD 2.5 billion), down a third on original expectations and down over 10 per cent year-on-year.