Tokyo  - Nintendo Co reported record earnings for fiscal 2007 that ended in March, thanks to the strong popularity of game consoles, the company said Thursday.

The Japanese game creator saw its profit surge 47.7 per cent to a record 257.34 billion yen (2.5 billion dollars) in the year through March, compared to a year before.

Sales jumped 73 per cent to a record 1.67 trillion yen, and operating profit more than doubled to 487.22 billion yen, also marking a record high.

The positive earnings results were attributed to strong demands of popular Wii console and handheld DS consoles, the company said.

Nintendo expected its net profit to soar 26 per cent to 325 billion yen for the current fiscal year through March 2009, while its operating profit was projected to rise 8.8 per cent to 530 billion dollars with sales of 1.8 trillion yen, up 7.6 per cent from a year before. (dpa)