Nintendo second quarter profits hit eight-year high, but still miss expectations
Nintendo failed to meet analysts' expectations despite reporting an eight-year profit high for its second-quarter profits today, thanks to sales of Switch consoles and games.
The figures
The Japanese gaming giant revealed that profits grew 30 per cent year-on-year to hit 30.9bn yen (£214.17m) between July and September.
Yet analysts were underwhelmed after estimating profits to be 36.6bn yen, according to Refinitiv data.
Meanwhile revenue for the six months ending September stood at 389bn yen, up from 374bn yen the year before, while profit grew 24 per cent to 92bn yen.
Why it's interesting
Nintendo sold more than 5m Switch consoles between April and September, a three per cent year-on-year hike as the firm sticks to its sales forecast of 20m consoles for the year ending in March.
President Shuntaro Furukawa, who has only been in the job since June, admitted the target would be a challenge, and it means Nintendo is banking on two games proving hits with customers – Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu!, out 16 November, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate, out 7 December.
That leaves the company hoping for a bumper sales period over Christmas, though its last holiday quarter saw it sell 7.2m Switch consoles, which was considered a big number at the time but would leave it well short of its target for 2018.
Meanwhile, digital sales for the Switch brought in 39.1bn yen between April and September, a 72 per cent year-on-year rise.
In the same period, the company sold 42m Switch games, up from 22m last year.