Capcom Profits Down In Mixed Full Year Results

Officials from Japanese publisher and developer Capcom have released details of the company’s full year financial results, in which revenues rose by 6.1 percent and operating profit was up 45.9 percent, but net profits fell by 15.7 percent overall. Net sales increased from ¥70.2 billion ($580.7m) a year ago to ¥74.5 billion ($616.2m) in the financial year ended March 31st. Operating income rose more sharply from ¥6.6 billion ($54.6m) to ¥9.6 billion ($79.4m), but net income fell from ¥6.9 billion ($57.1m) a year ago to ¥5.9 billion ($48.8m). The company’s home video game division reported revenues of ¥43.8 billion ($362.4m), up 2.6 percent on the previous year. Operating income rose by as much as 175.2 percent to ¥8.0 billion ($66.2m), which the company attributed to lowered development costs and high profile successes such as Dead Rising, Lost Planet and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd. Japanese sales were seen to rise by 4.6 percent to ¥56.7 billion ($469.1m), with operating income up 15.1 percent to ¥10.1 billion ($83.6m). The most successful titles in Capcom’s home territory were Monster Hunter Portable 2nd for the PSP, Mega Man: Star Force for Nintendo DS and Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on PlayStation 2. Despite record overall sales, sales in North American were still far behind that of Japan at ¥15.8 billion ($130.7m), but the company did see a 731.7 percent increase in operating income to ¥1.4 billion ($11.6m). European sales were down to ¥8.0 billion ($66.2m), although the closure of Capcom Eurosoft did see a large rise in operating income to ¥1.0 billion ($8.3m). There was less good news for the company’s arcade business, with a 17.6 percent drop in operating income to ¥2.0 billion ($16.5m), despite a 12.8 percent increase in revenues to ¥13.0 billion ($107.5m). For the coming financial year, the company predicts that net sales will increased by 4.6 percent to ¥78 billion ($645.0m), with operating incoming expected to rise by 4.1 percent to ¥10 billion ($82.7m) and net income by 5.9 percent to ¥6.2 billion ($51.3m) – still below the 2005/06 figure.