Nintendo Q3 profit doubles on Wii

OSAKA, JAPAN: Robust holiday sales of Wii and DS game machines helped Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd more than double its quarterly operating profit and prompted it to raise its outlook beyond market expectations.

Its Wii console, which features a motion-sensing controller, and the double-screened DS handheld game gear have opened the way to innovative new games -- helping Nintendo attract a wide range of new users, including women and the elderly.

Wii sales topped Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 in both the United States and Japan the previous year.

"Solid results, but the market's attention is already on the year ahead," said Takeshi Osawa, a senior fund manager at Norinchukin Zenkyoren Asset Management.

"I would like see how the firm will maintain its growth for the next several years."

Operating profit at Nintendo, creator of game characters Mario and Zelda, came to 205.3 billion yen ($1.93 billion) in October-December, up from 100.5 billion yen a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations. Nintendo only gave results for the nine months to December.

Net profit in October-December rose 63 per cent from the same period a year earlier to 126.5 billion yen on sales of 621.6 billion yen, up 50 per cent, as gamers were drawn to its ground-breaking models.

Fund managers said Nintendo's solid performance is well known and is factored into its share price, and what interests them most is how the company will manage to keep its strong momentum going.

Shares in Nintendo more than doubled in value last year on strong sales of its game machines and software titles, helping the company zip past some of Japan's corporate giants such as Sony and Honda Motor Co Ltd in market value.

Outlook raised

Nintendo said it now expects its operating profit to total a record 460 billion yen for the year to March, up almost 10 percent from a previous forecast of 420 billion yen and just above the consensus of 456.5 billion yen in a poll of 21 analysts by Reuters Estimates.

Nintendo lifted its full-year dividend forecast by 9 percent to 1,190 yen from a previously estimated 1,090 yen.

Users of the DS can give commands using a stylus instead of a key pad, while the Wii's controller, which looks like a TV remote control, allows gamers to direct on-screen play by swinging it like a tennis racket or a sword.

Nintendo also said it plans to launch its wildly popular home fitness game, Wii Fit, in overseas markets in the second quarter of this calendar year.

Nintendo last month released Wii Fit in Japan, fanning the already white-hot demand for the top-selling console.

The new game features a pressure-sensing mat called the Wii Balance Board, which looks like a set of bathroom scales and can sense when a person moves and leans.

That enables players to head virtual soccer balls and experience ski jumping on a TV gaming screen.

Before the announcement, Nintendo shares closed down 2 percent at 53,100 yen, underperforming the Nikkei average, which gained 2.1 percent.

(Additional reporting by Taiga Uranaka, Aiko Hayashi and Yumi Horie)

© Reuters