Namco Bandai profits up more than 70 per cent

Namco Bandai has announced financial results for the year ending March 31, posting a 71 per cent rise in net profits to YEN 24.2 billion (EUR 148.9 million).

The company's games division racked up YEN 138.2 billion (EUR 850 million) in net sales, which were up by 6.4 per cent year-on-year, while operating income increased by 18.6 per cent to reach YEN 11.5 billion (EUR 70.2 million).

Over the course of the year 23.4 million Namco Bandai games were sold, of which 58 per cent were console titles and 42 per cent were handheld. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 for PS2 was the best-selling game with 1.18 million units shifted, followed by Tekken: Dark Resurrection (PSP, 1 million units) and Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop (DS, 871,000 units).

Other top performing titles included Tekken 5 Platinum, Naruto: Ultimate Nintja, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny Plus and Super Dragon Ball Z.

The company's toys and hobbies subsidiary posted YEN 185.5 billion (EUR 1.15 million), and its amusements business generated YEN 88.2 billion (EUR 544 million).

As a whole, Namco Bandai's sales were up 1.8 per cent at YEN 459.1 billion (EUR 2.83 million). Operating income rose by 18.4 per cent to reach YEN 42.2 billion (EUR 260.2 million). Net sales for Japan stood at YEN 356.2 billion (EUR 2.19 million), compared to YEN 52.3 billion for North America and YEN 37.8 billion for Europe.

Namco Bandai is forecasting a 4.5 increase in net sales for the coming year, plus a 6.6 per cent rise in operating income and a 9.3 per cent increase in net income to YEN 26.5 billion (EUR 163.4 million).