Nintendo are having a whale of a time at the moment and have just estimated a 16% rise in profits for this year.

The company forecast a group net profit of 100 billion yen ($850 million) in the year ending March 31, up from its earlier estimate of 83 billion yen. It reported a profit of 98.4 billion last year...Nintendo raised its sales estimate by 15.6 percent to 740 billion yen, and operating profit target by 16 percent to 145 billion yen. The company based the new earnings estimates on an exchange rate of 115 yen to the dollar, and 143 yen to the euro.

They've also re-assessed the sales projection figures for the DS

Nintendo raised its sales forecast for its DS game device to 20 million units from 17 million for the current year, and said it expects sales of DS games to total 82 million units, up 9 percent from its previous target.

Nintendo also increased its estimate for sales of its Game Boy Advance game machine by 32 percent to 3.3 million units.

For the first half of the business year, the company almost doubled its net profit estimate to 50 billion yen, against previous forecast of 27 billion yen. That compares with a profit of 36.6 billion yen a year earlier.

Nintendo's first-half sales probably totaled 290 billion yen, compared with 176 billion yen a year ago, the company said.

Investors will be rubbing their hands with glee when the Wii is released in Japan on Novemeber 19th. The highly anticpated console will make a profit right from day one.

Source : Reuters