Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd said yesterday its profits for the half-year which ended September would be boosted by a drop in prices for key components for its Game Boy Advance game console.
The world's second largest home video game maker said it suffered almost no negative impact from the attacks on New York and Washington except for the week immediately after Sept. 11, and it expects little fallout in the second half of the year.
The comments followed a report by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun which said the game maker expected to report a 29 percent jump in group operating profit for the half year ended September, to around ?51 billion (US$418.3 million).
That was up from its earlier forecast of ?45 billion.
"We have reaped the benefits of the drop in components prices, so that should give some boost to our profits," the spokesman said. He declined to confirm Saturday's Nihon Keizai report.
Prices for liquid crystal displays and semiconductors, key components for its Game Boy Advance console, have been falling in the wake of a global information technology slowdown, giving Nintendo a surprise windfall.
The expected higher profit nudged Nintendo's shares up in morning trade, helping it gain 2.95 percent to ?19,880, while the Nikkei average was down 0.26 percent.
Nintendo's spokesman said the figures in the newspaper report were based on the Nihon Keizai's own analysis and not Nintendo's, but he added that components prices were lower-than-expected in the first half.
The company will announce its results for the first half of 2001/02 on Nov. 21.
The newspaper said first half results were also helped by a weaker yen, which gave a boost to overseas sales, which account for around 70 percent of Nintendo's total sales.
Consolidated sales rose 18 percent to ?225 billion in April-September, it said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique