Konami revenue and income falls in the first quarter

Japanese publisher Konami saw a 17 per cent decline in net revenues in the quarter leading up to June 30th, while the firm's quarterly net income fell by over 90 per cent despite strong performance in some sectors.

For the three month period, the firm had revenues of 47.3 billion Yen (350 million Euro), a 17.6 per cent decline on the 57.4 billion Yen (435 million Euro) revenues recorded in the same period in 2003.

Operating income fell by 69.3 per cent to 2.95 billion Yen (21.8 million Euro), while the net income figure experienced the sharpest drop of all, falling some 93.7 per cent to 264 million Yen (1.9 million Euro).

The largest decline by sector was in the company's toy and hobby division, where revenues fell by almost 60 per cent, but the computer and video game sector also witnessed a decline of around 40 per cent, with revenues falling from 13.1 billion Yen (97 million Euro) in 2003 to 9.1 billion Yen (67.4 million Euro) in Q1 2004.

By contrast, a number of the company's divisions did actually see revenue growth - particularly the amusement arcade and gaming (gambling machine) divisions, which recorded growth of 36 per cent and 28 per cent respectively, while revenues from the firm's health and fitness division (which operates a large number of health clubs and gyms around Japan) stayed solid, with a small 1 per cent growth factor.

Despite the relatively weak performance of the video games sector, the company noted that E3 reaction to its line-up was largely positive, and hailed domestic sales of Professional Baseball Spirits 2004 and Silent Hill 4: The Room as being "favourable" - while the Yu-Gi-Oh series continued to be grow in popularity in the USA and Europe.

For the full year, Konami's outlook remains unchanged; the firm expects net revenues for the 12 months to March 31, 2005 to be broadly stable year-on-year at 275 billion Yen (2 billion Euro), while operating and net income will fall somewhat from FY2004, with projections calling for 28 billion Yen (207 million Euro) and 15 billion Yen (111 million Euro) respectively.