Bandai Co., Japan's top toy maker, on Wednesday reported a 19 percent increase in group net profit for the year through March, with an army of characters such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Power Rangers beating the nation's deflationary trend.

The group net profit for the 12-month period was 12.67 billion yen, compared with 10.64 billion yen one year ago.

Group sales were up 7.5 percent to 244.95 billion yen, the second-highest for the firm, which saw record sales of 288.2 billion yen for fiscal 1997 on the phenomenal popularity of Tamagotchi hand-held games.

Strong performances from boys' toys that feature popular characters -- Gundam, ".(dot) hack" in Japan and Power Rangers overseas -- helped boost sales.

The group operating profit grew even steeper, up 24.6 percent to 25.87 billion yen, thanks to brisk sales of fat-margin video game software, including Dragonball Z.

Group sales of video game software, which is marketed for PlayStation 2 and other consoles, grew to 8.9 million units from 6.3 million a year ago.

"Despite the severe market situation, with fewer children and weak consumer spending, I think the popularity of the characters will continue," Bandai President Takeo Takasu said.

He also said the firm is currently working on a new Tamagotchi, adding it aims to sell a volume equaling its legendary original, which sold 40 million units worldwide.

He said the firm will debut the toy simultaneously worldwide, having learned a painful lesson from the original Tamagotchi, in which a delayed debut overseas spawned a plethora of copycats.