Japan's largest toy maker, Bandai Co., said Thursday that its group net profit for the first half of the 2002 business year jumped 27.1 percent to 7.07 billion yen from the same period last year, thanks to the popularity of its TV program characters.
The firm, which has animation production studios under its wing, boasts an army of TV and animation characters, including Gundam, Power Rangers and Digimon. Products featuring Gundam alone generated 20.4 billion yen in sales during the first half.
The group sales for the six-month period ending Sept. 30 came to 113.85 billion yen, a 3.2 percent rise from a year ago, while group operating profit grew 18.4 percent to 13.25 billion yen.