Nintendo Reports Record Profits For Fiscal 2001

The company posted a net profit of 106.4 billion yen ($858 million), over 10 percent higher than Nintendo's profits last year. Revenue was also up, hitting 554.9 billion yen -- 20 percent better than last year. The company cited Gamecube sales (3.8 million units shipped so far) and GameBoy Advance sales (17 million units shipped) as its growth engines. But the company also benefitted from the weakness in the yen, which lost approximately 7 percent of its value compared to the dollar during the year. Since about 70 percent of Nintendo's sales come from outside Japan, a weak yen benefits the company. Nintendo tempered the upbeat news with a warning that the current year would probably not match FY2001's results, since the yen is picking up strength. The company says its group net profit will probably fall to 90 billion yen this fiscal year, on stronger revenues of around 640 billion yen.