UPDATE 3-Nintendo Q4 profit soars on DS, more growth ahead

The Kyoto-based company added that it is targeting DS handheld game sales of 22 million units this year, compared with 23.56 million in fiscal 2007.

EXTRAORDINARY SITUATION

"We sold 9.12 million units of DS hardware in Japan last year when it is considered a great success if you sell 6 million units of game hardware," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told reporters.

"We cannot make our business plan on the assumption that this extraordinary situation will continue this year, although modest DS growth in the United States and Europe can be expected," he said.

Iwata said Nintendo aims to double its combined annual Wii and DS software sales to 300 million units from last year's levels, without giving a specific time frame.

"As a mid-term target it would be appropriate for us to establish a market in which we can sell about 300 million units of DS and Wii software," he said.

"Normally, January-March is a slow quarter and sales slacken," he said, "But in the latest quarter, both the DS and Wii maintained their momentum. In particular, DS and Wii software sales far exceeded our expectations".

Sales in the latest quarter totalled 253.9 billion yen, compared with 96.9 billion a year earlier.

Few analysts give their estimates for Nintendo's quarterly performance.

The result comes after Nintendo raised its outlook for the year ended March 31 for the fourth time earlier this month, citing brisk demand for the DS and foreign exchange-related gains.

Prior to the announcement, shares in Nintendo closed up 0.3 percent at 37,200 yen, underperforming the Nikkei average's .N225 1.1 percent gain. Nintendo shares have nearly doubled in the past business year while the Nikkei put on 1.3 percent. (Additional reporting by Nathan Layne)