Konami Profit Rises 22 Percent, Moves To Prevent Takeover

Metal Gear publisher Konami on Thursday reported a slide in sales for the fiscal year, but also revealed a year-on-year bump in profit. For the year ended March 31, 2010, Konami reported profit of ¥13.3 billion ($143.4 million), a 22.4 percent rise in earnings from the previous year. Revenues, however, saw a 15.4 percent drop to ¥262.1 billion ($2.8 billion). In November, Konami, which also runs smaller slot machine, arcade machine and health club businesses, warned of disappointing results for its first fiscal half due to difficult comparisons to Metal Gear Solid 4 sales. Major titles for Konami during the most recent fiscal year included Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 and Silent Hill Shattered Memories. Konami expects profit to rise just 1.4 percent to ¥13.5 billion ($145.6 million) for the current fiscal year, ending March 31, 2011. The company forecast revenues of ¥285 billion ($3.1 billion), up 8.7 percent from the previous year. Konami also said that its shareholders approved the renewal of a revised plan that acts as a countermeasure against "large-scale acquisitions." Konami defined a large-scale acquisition as a scenario in which a party acquires 20 percent or more of company shares. The publisher made clear that it "will not unconditionally reject" a large-scale acquisition of its shares if a takeover proved a positive for shareholders and the corporate value of Konami, and that takeover acceptance would ultimately be up to the shareholders. But if a takeover does not seem beneficial for the company's value and the shareholders, Konami's directors would implement takeover countermeasures. The plan includes guidelines for how to handle takeovers, such as time guidelines during which the board would evaluate a takeover bid and, if the potential buyer's bid doesn't fall in line with company and shareholder interests, how to resist the takeover.