Nintendo slumps to £570m loss

Japanese game-maker Nintendo has reported a worse-than-expected net loss of 70.3 billion yen (£570 million) for the six months to September, blaming the strong yen and weak software sales.

The maker of the Wii game console and DS handheld also slashed its forecast for the full year to next March to a 20 billion yen (£160 million) net loss, it said in a statement. In July, it had predicted an annual net profit of 20 billion yen.

Nintendo is battling increased competition from mobile phones that offer simple games.

The strong yen has also eroded income from overseas markets, which account for nearly 80 per cent of its sales.

AP