Nintendo Posts Robust 6-Month Profit Growth

TOKYO — Japan’s Nintendo Co., the world’s second-largest maker of home video-game machines, Wednesday reported strong half-year profit growth, mainly because of an increase in the value of its $4.3 billion worth of dollar-based assets.

However, the inventor of the smash-hit Pokemon game character said that although its Game Boy player was doing well, sales of its flagship Nintendo 64 game console--intended to challenge Sony Corp.’s PlayStation--had disappointed.

But the company said it was optimistic for next year because customers appeared to be awaiting its next-generation consoles.

Nintendo said pretax profit jumped 157% to $470.6 million in the April-September period, slightly better than analysts’ estimates.

Sales fell 26% to $1.27 billion, hurt by the yen’s appreciation against the dollar. A stronger yen decreases the value of overseas sales, which account for 79% of Nintendo’s total revenue.

Nintendo projected sales of 23 million Game Boy players for the year, including 1 million of the Game Boy Advance. It expected sales of 3.05 million Nintendo 64 consoles, down from its May projection of 3.5 million.