Bandai sales rise, profits sink

Solid sales of game software helped Tokyo-based Bandai salvage some good from its quarterly earnings report today. In Japan, the giant toy and game company reported earnings for the April-June quarter at the close of trading Thursday, and while revenues were up slightly, climbing 1.3 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago, earnings were down.

Net profit for the quarter was off 27 percent from the same quarter a year ago. On sales of 58.9 billion yen ($527.5 million), the company banked 5.6 billion yen ($50.1 million) in profit. This compares to sales last year of 58.1 billion yen ($520 million) and a profit of 7.6 billion yen ($68 million).

In a statement, the company said costs associated with worldwide expansion--especially in North America--contributed to the dip in earnings.

Bandai's game division, on the other hand, scored well on its bottom line. Solid sales of Kinnikuman Generations and Super Robot Taisen MX in Japan helped drive the division's sales up 28 percent. Quarter on quarter, the software division saw sales climb from 5.24 billion ($47 million) to 6.73 billion yen ($60.2 million). Profit from the game division increased more than 300 percent, from 141 million yen ($1.3 million) last year to 516 million yen ($4.6 million) in the most recent quarter.