Namco Bandai records nine month loss of $129m

Namco Bandai has recorded a loss of ¥11.7bn (£81.3m / $129.5m) for the nine months ended December 31, compared to a ¥9.01 billion (£62.3m / $99.4m) profit for the same period last year.

Net sales at the publisher were down 10.4 per cent, from ¥315 billion (£2.1bn / $3.4bn) to ¥282 billion (£1.9bn / $3.1bn), with a decrease in operating income of 76.3 per cent, down to ¥4.7 billion (£32.6m / $51.9m), from ¥19.8 billion (£137.2m / $218.8m) last year.

"The Namco Bandai group generally faced an uphill battle in the first nine months of the fiscal year... during which market conditions for the group remained severe, despite steady results achieved in sales of long-established character toys in the Toys and Hobby business and arcade game machines in the Game Contents business," said the company.

"In the Game Contents business in particular, sales fell below projections given weak market conditions for most of major home game software titles except Tekken 6, the largest title released in the current fiscal year, leading to weak results for the segment."

Full year projections have been downgraded, with the company expecting a loss of ¥31 billion (£214.79m / $341.94m), with sales down to ¥380 billion (£2.6bn / $4.1bn).

The company has announced a Group Restart Plan, aimed at breathing life back into the business, at the cost of over 600 jobs, more details of which can be read here.