Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. has cut its annual profit forecast after a downturn in its leisure park business and now plans to close as many as 60 of its 1,792 amusement centres. The Tokyo-based firm now expects net income to total 16.5bn yen in the year ending March 31, down 38 per cent from its previous target of 26.5bn yen.
In a statement distributed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange Namco Bandai said nine-month profit from its amusement facility operations fell 57 per cent from the year earlier. Takeo Takasu, Namco Bandai’s president, said the company’s three year plan to target 58bn yen operating profit on sales of 550 billion yen for the 12 months ending March 2009 would now be difficult to achieve.