Namco Sees Slight Dip in Nine Month Results

Representatives from Japanese-headquartered Namco have posted the company’s financial results for the nine months to December 31st, 2004. During this period, the company’s revenue fell slightly from its 2003 figure of ¥134.6 billion ($1.28bn) to ¥132.0 billion ($1.26bn), while operating profit also fell from ¥14.7 billion ($140m) to ¥10.8 billion ($103m). Net profit, though, was static at ¥6.6 billion ($63m). During this nine month period, the company has seen strong sales from its Japanese coin-op business, particularly Tekken 5 and its new LCD screen equipped Pachislot machines. Regarding the company’s home video game business, the best Japanese sellers, in what has been a relatively quiet year for the company, were Ace Combat 5 and Tales of Rebirth. New portable titles Ridge Racers and Mr Driller: Drill Spirits also surpassed sales targets. Within the U.S., though sales of Ace Combat 5 and Street Racing Syndicate were apparently strong, niche titles Taiko Drum Master and the critically acclaimed Katamari Damacy were singled out as surpassing sales targets that were presumably fairly modest in nature. The company’s location based arcade and theme park business saw sales decline by 3.7 percent, versus a forecast of flat growth. They fell the most in North America, where sales declined by 10.8 percent, compared to a target of 4.0 percent decrease. Nonetheless, for the full year to March 2005, the company is keeping its existing projections of revenue of ¥188 billion ($1.80bn) and net profit of ¥8.5 billion ($81m).