Alpha Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 TOKYO--With Sega and Sammy's October 1 merger on the horizon, the two companies today jointly released their earnings reports. Sega announced that its net profit for the first fiscal quarter totaled 932 million yen ($8.35 million), a fall of 50.6 percent from the 1.889 billion yen ($16.9 million) it made during the same period last year. Sales fell 1.4 percent to 41.8 billion yen ($375 million) for the quarter. In the console sector, Sega sold 290,000 more units of game software than expected, despite having released four fewer titles than it originally anticipated. Sega sold 520,000 units of game software in Japan and 400,000 units in Europe. However, price drops on the 650,000 games Sega sold in North America negated any gains. According to Sega, the average price of games in North America has dropped by about 25 percent during the past two years. On the other hand, Sega's arcade-machine sales have been going smoothly in Japan. New games, such as the online arcade mahjong game Taisen Mahjong MJ2 sold well, and sales remained stable in America, Asia, and Europe. Sales in Sega's exisiting arcade franchises were also going smoothly, surpassing the company's original plans by 2 percent. But the opening of four new arcades cost the company around 2 billion yen ($17.9 million), contributing to Sega's large first-quarter profit drop. Despite the first-quarter shortfall, Sega held on to its profit forecast for the year at 8 billion yen ($71.7 million) and sales at 204 billion yen ($1.83 billion). Many game companies dismiss the traditionally slow first fiscal quarter and look to the third quarter holidays to buoy sales and profits. Sega's future partner fared much better. Sammy reported a first quarter profit, up by 629 percent from 2.94 billion yen ($26.3 million) last year to 21.42 billion yen ($192 million). Sales quadrupled from 27 billion yen ($242 million) to 109.7 billion yen ($977 million). The company states that the gradual economic recovery in Japan is leading to higher sales of its Pachi-slot pinball machines. In fact, Sammy shipped 189,000 units of Jissen Pachi-Slot Hisshouhou: Fist of the North Star in the first quarter alone. Sega will be merging with Sammy in October under a newly established holding company, Sega Sammy Holdings. Once merged, Sega and Sammy's combined annual income for the fiscal year 2005 is expected to reach 501 billion yen ($4.5 billion), making it one of the biggest game companies in Japan. Under the terms of the deal, Sammy, which already owns nearly 25 percent of Sega, will exchange about 165 billion yen ($1.48 billion) of stock in the new company for Sega's remaining shares. Each share of Sammy will be swapped for one share of Sega Sammy Holdings, while each share of Sega will be swapped for 0.28 of a share. The deal will give current Sammy shareholders control of nearly three-quarters of the new company's voting stock. By Hirohiko Niizumi -- GameSpotPOSTED: 08/05/04 12:38 PM PSTCredits: http://gamespot.com ========================Post your comments here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gryph Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Sammy reported a first quarter profit, up by 629 percent from 2.94 billion yen ($26.3 million) last year to 21.42 billion yen ($192 million). Sales quadrupled from 27 billion yen ($242 million) to 109.7 billion yen ($977 million). WOW! Atleast Sega is still profitable...but if the trend continues that won't be so in the coming years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamo Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Hopefully with Sega merging with Sammy it wont have to go under anytime soon .But ive heard that many big names have left due to the merger and the dissolving of Sega's studios .Wonder hows it going to be now that all the Sgea studios are under one roof so to speak............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverlordMondo Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Sega/Sammy should begin work on a the next-next-next generation console, to overpower the PS3/Next-BOx/Nintendo whatever. Shoot them down like the PS2 shot down the Dreamcast! And bring back the VBA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Big names leaving could be possibly why I won't get the same quality of games as before. As for now, if no one didn't know Sammy will move all it's arcade divisions, games division included, to Sega's side. Fanboys may rejoice to seeing the next GG game on Naomi then on Sammy's system. As for KOF, think of it as the next MVS(Atomiswave) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weirdy Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 don't forget about Sammy's yakuza ties Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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