Great news for this company and the anime industry!

"The Japanese anime studio Toei Animation announced on Tuesday that it is revising its earnings forecast higher for the current fiscal year ending in March of 2012. Specifically, it is revising its estimated revenues for the second half of the year higher — and as a result, it projects that it will have the highest annual revenues in the company's history.

 Toei is raising its predicted revenues for the second half from 14 billion yen (about US$184 million) to 16.2 billion yen (US$213 million). Therefore, its predicted operating profits will also rise 30% from 2 billion yen (US$26 million) to 2.6 billion yen (US$34 million), and its predicted ordinary profits will rise 27.3% from 2.2 billion yen (US$29 million) to 2.8 billion yen (US$37 million). For the entire fiscal year, the predicted revenues will rise from 24.2 billion yen (US$318 million) to 29 billion yen (US$381 million) — a historic high for the company.

The resulting annual operating profits forecasted will rise from 3.1 billion yen (US$41 million) to 4 billion yen (US$53 million), and the resulting annual ordinary profits will also rise from 3.4 billion yen (US$45 million) to 4.2 billion yen (US$55 million). The company specifically credited the strong performance of the anime franchises One Piece and Suite Precure.

Projected revenues from One Piece character goods, events, and DVDs have increased for the second half. Toei Animation had already announced a revision to its earnings forecast on July 25. Between the two revisions, Toei has raised its projected revenues for the current fiscal year over 37% from the initial 21.1 billion yen (US$277 million) estimate. Last fiscal year, the studio reported annual revenues of 26.622 billion yen (US$349.6 million)."

Source: ANN