Tokyo  - Nintendo Co on Thursday reported an 18-per-cent fall in its net profit during the first nine months of the fiscal year despite strong sales of its Wii videogame console as the yen advanced against other currencies.

The Japanese videogame maker saw its net profit decline from 258.93 billion yen (2.9 billion dollars) during the same period a year before to 212.52 billion yen in the April-to-December period.

Its sales were up by 17 per cent to 1.54 trillion yen. However, a strong yen reduces its overseas earnings, and Nintendo generates almost 90 per cent of its sales overseas.

The company said it expected its operating profit to increase 8.8 per cent to 530 billion yen in the full fiscal year and sales to grow by about the same rate to 1.82 trillion yen.

But Nintendo forecast a 10.6-per-cent fall in its net profit from the previous year to 230 billion yen.

The company did not release detailed figures for its third quarter. (dpa)