Nintendo FY05 profits driven by forex gains, new product

05/26/05 - newratings.com

LONDON, May 26 (newratings.com) – Japanese video game manufacturer Nintendo Co (NTO) Thursday announced that its net profits for the latest financial year ended March 2005 more than doubled due to robust sales of its new portable game player and gains from foreign exchange fluctuations.

Kyoto-based Nintendo said its full-year net profits surged to ¥ 87.42 billion from ¥33.19 billion in the previous year. The company’s sales for the financial year ended March 31 increased to ¥515.29 billion, up 0.1% from ¥514.81 billion posted in the previous year. Nintendo’s overseas earnings were boosted by a favourable exchange rate during the year and the company posted foreign-currency related gains worth ¥21.85 billion as compared to losses of ¥67.88 billion in the previous year. The company expects to post group net profits of ¥75 billion on sales of ¥520 billion in the current financial year ended March 2006 due to declining demand for its GameCube and Game Boy Advance consoles and games.