Nintendo Co.
7974,
shares fell sharply Wednesday morning after the Japanese videogame company lowered its fiscal-year forecast for Switch console sales amid a shortage of chips.
The shares were recently 6.2% lower at 5,839 yen after falling as much as 6.9% earlier.
Nintendo said Tuesday after market close that it sold 6.68 million Switch consoles during the six-month period ended Sept. 30, down from 8.28 million a year earlier, as a shortage of semiconductors weighed on production.
The company said the supply of chips was improving but projected that it would sell 19 million Switch consoles for the full year ending March 2023, down from its previous forecast of 21.0 million units.
Nintendo’s first-half net profit rose 34% to Y230.45 billion ($1.58 billion) as revenue increased 5.2% to Y656.97 billion, thanks partly to stronger sales of Switch software.
While Nintendo boosted its fiscal-year net profit forecast, citing in part the weaker yen, it kept its operating profit view unchanged.
Nintendo expects net profit to drop 16% to Y400.00 billion, compared with its previous view of a 29% decrease, and continues to project operating profit to drop 16% to Y500.00 billion.
