Nintendo Earnings Rise on Sale of Stake in Seattle Mariners

TOKYO—Nintendo Co.'s second-quarter earnings rose sharply from a year earlier, as the recent sale of its controlling interest in the Seattle Mariners baseball team helped to offset its struggling videogame console.

The Kyoto-based company said its net income for the quarter rose to 62.8 billion yen ($603 million) from ¥ 3.2 billion a year earlier, thanks in large part to a one-time gain from the sale of its majority stake in First Avenue Entertainment, the operator of the Mariners.

"Poké mon Go," a smash-hit smartphone game that was rolled out in July, also lifted Nintendo's bottom line during the first half of the current fiscal year, which ends in March. The company said gains from investments in its affiliate companies, including Poké mon Co.—which made the smartphone game with Alphabet Inc. spinout Niantic Inc.—stood at ¥ 12 billion.

Nintendo recorded an operating loss of ¥ 812 million, reversing from an operating profit of ¥ 7.8 billion a year earlier, as its flagship Wii U videogame console proved to be unpopular with consumers. It hopes to revive sales with its next platform, called Switch, which is set to launch in March.

For the fiscal year ending March, Nintendo expects a net profit of ¥ 50 billion and an operating profit of ¥ 30 billion on revenue of ¥ 470 billion. Previously, it forecast a net profit of ¥ 35 billion, an operating profit of ¥ 45 billion and revenue of ¥ 500 billion.

Write to Takashi Mochizuki at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2016 04:35 ET (08:35 GMT)

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