Bandai Co. said Tuesday it posted a group net profit of 4.01 billion yen in the April-June quarter on sales of 58.12 billion yen.

This is the first year in which the toy maker has published quarterly earnings figures in the April-June period.

In the reporting quarter, sales of game software were sluggish but those of toys remained solid, the company said.

Group pretax profit came to 7.60 billion yen in the April-June term.

For the full year to next March 31, Bandai left its earnings forecast unchanged. In May, it projected a group net profit of 14.2 billion yen and a pretax profit of 28 billion yen on sales of 255 billion yen.

In the previous fiscal year, which ended March 31, the company logged a group net profit of 12.67 billion yen and a pretax profit of 26.44 billion yen, on sales of 244.95 billion yen.

Bandai said it will conduct a 2-for-1 stock split Nov. 20 to increase the number of outstanding shares to 97,913,764 from the current 48,956,882.

The company said shareholders eligible for the stock split are those registered as of Sept. 30. The split will have no effect on Bandai's capital.

Profit for Nintendo

Nintendo Co. said Tuesday its group net profit came to 11.45 billion yen in the April-June period.

The firm, which makes video game consoles and software, said its performance was boosted by sales of Game Boy Advance hand-helds, as well as by sales of related software titles, such as "Pocket Monster Ruby/Sapphire."

In the first three months of fiscal 2003, consolidated pretax profit came to 17.71 billion yen on sales of 83.82 billion yen.