Namco Bandai Profits Jump In Full Year Results

Officials from Namco Bandai Holdings have announced details of the company’s full year results in which net profits were seen to grow by 71 percent, despite net sales growth of less than 2 percent and slower than expected PlayStation 3 game sales. For the period ended March 31st, the company saw net sales rise by 1.8 percent from the previous year to ¥459.1 billion ($3.83bn). Operating income rose by 18.4 percent to ¥42.2 billion ($352.1m) and net income by 71.4 percent to ¥24.2 billion ($201.9m). In a breakdown of these results, the company saw the vast majority of sales still being generated in Japan, in large part thanks to the continued popularity of Bandai properties such as Gundam, Tamagotchi and Power Ranger. Overall net sales were ¥356.2 billion ($2.97bn) in Japan, but only ¥52.3 billion ($436.5m) in the Americas and ¥37.8 billion ($315.5m) in Europe. Sales by segment were more evenly distributed, with toys and hobbies (traditionally Bandai’s side of the business) generating ¥185.5 billion ($1.55bn) net sales. Meanwhile Namco’s amusement facility business generated ¥88.2 billion ($736.3m) and its home video games division ¥139.2 billion ($1.16bn). The company’s bestselling game of the year was Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 on PlayStation 2, with 1.2 million units sold. This was followed by Tekken: Dark Resurrection on PSP with 1.0 million units sold and Tamagotchi: Corner Shop 2 with 0.9 million units sold. Not including localized titles, the company sold 63 different games on the PlayStation 2 during the financial year, together with 6 PlayStation 3 titles, 7 Xbox 360 games, 5 Wii games, 50 PSP titles and 42 Nintendo DS titles. For the next financial year the company is predicting a 4.5 percent increase in net sales to ¥480.0 billion ($4.01bn), with operating income expected to rise by 6.6 percent to ¥45.0 billion ($375.6m) and net income by 9.3 percent to ¥26.5 billion ($221.2m).