Nintendo Full Year Results Show Rapid Gain

Officials from Nintendo have reported the company’s final consolidated financial results for the financial year ending March 31st. During this period, the company saw a rise in operating profits of 90 percent and a surge in revenue of 150 percent, an extremely impressive result. The revenue figure of ¥966.5 billion ($8.10bn) is an all-time high for the company, as is the operating profit of ¥226.0 billion ($1.91bn). Net profit rose by 77 percent to ¥174.3 billion ($1.47bn). The company has also updated its sales figures for the Wii, with a total of 5.84 million units sold worldwide – described as “virtually every one” of the stock then available. A total of 29 million Wii games have been sold worldwide, resulting in an attachment rate of almost 1:5. However, the company has attributed the majority of its current success to the performance of the Nintendo DS, which sold 23 million hardware units in the last year and 123 million units of software. The format now commands a global userbase of over 40 million, after just over three years on sale. Total lifetime sales for software is now just under 184 million, resulting in an attachment rate of 1:4.6. The company also pointed to a general recovery in the Japanese economy for the improved results, with a local games market which is now expanding after several years of decline. Non-Japanese sales accounted for 66.5 percent of all company revenues for a total of ¥643.0 billion ($5.42bn) - ¥354.7 billion ($2.99bn) in the Americas and ¥266.1 billion ($2.24bn) in Europe. The strongest performers of the year for the company were New Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo DS, which has now sold 9.5 million units worldwide, and Brain Age (aka Brain Training), which sold 8.08 million units worldwide, for a lifetime total of 12 million units which includes the Japanese-only sequel. Nintendogs also continued to perform well with 6.95 million unit sales for the year, for a lifetime total of 13.6 million. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, released only in Japan during the 2006 fiscal year, has so far sold 5.21 million units. For the new fiscal year beginning April 1st, Nintendo has projected sales of 14 million Wii consoles and 55 million games worldwide. A further 22 million Nintendo DS sales are expected and 130 million software sales. Consolidated sales are expected to increase by 18 percent to ¥1.14 trillion ($9.62bn) and operating profits are predicted to increase by almost 20 percent to ¥270 billion ($2.26bn). These projections are based on an exchange rate of ¥115 to $1 and ¥150 to €1. As a result, and bearing in mind Nintendo’s significant foreign property and currency holdings, recurring and net profits for the year are expected to remain flat.