Nintendo Annual Profits Expected To Shine

Nintendo has forecasted a profit of 140 billion yen, but analysts polled are predicting profits close to 150 billion yen. Poking around at the company's highs and lows for the year, analysts pointed to sales of the Game Boy Advance as a disappointment due to a lack of compelling game titles, but said that the Gamecube sales were on track and would probably meet the company's goal of four million units shipped by the end of 2002. At least one analyst was bullish enough to predict that Nintendo's operating profits will rise by 20-30 percent in 2002/03. In terms of company leadership, Nintendo has prepared the market for the coming retirement of its president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, who is 74 and said in January that he plans to step down soon. Yamauchi owns 10 percent stake in Nintendo, and has been at the company for half a century. No successor has been named, but whoever it is, analysts believe the transition will be mild for the company.