Nintendo sales double and profits balloon by 500 per cent as Shuntaro Furukawa is appointed president

Switch console sold more than 15 million units, while SNES Classic sold more than five million

Nintendo has reported a strong return to growth following a better than expected reception for its new Switch console, which has now been out for a year, selling 15.1 million units - more than Nintendo expected.

The company was reporting its financial results for the full year to the end of March 2018 as it appointed Shuntaro Furukawa as the new Nintendo president.

The 46 year old executive will be taking charge of the company despite his relatively young age and being a somewhat unknown senior executive.

He will replace former banker Tatsumi Kimishima, who last year oversaw the debut of the new console. The new president is by no means a new face in the company, however. Furukawa joined Nintendo way back in 1994 and worked in global marketing, serving on the board of the Pokémon arm, which Nintendo part-owns as part of a consortium.

The company says that net sales more than doubled to ¥1.05 billion (£6.9bn), while operating profit increased by a factor of five to ¥177.56 million (£1.17bn).

The company also revealed that more than 10.41 million copies of Super Mario Odysesey were sold during the year, while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 9.22 million units and Splatoon 6.02 million units. It didn't disclose unit sales of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in its financial release.

Even the retro SNES Classic console sold in number, too, with sales of 5.28 million.

According to Bloomberg, Nintendo is forecasting a profit of 225 billion yen (£1.47 billion) for the fiscal year ahead, as well as even higher sales of the Switch console, which it forecasts will exceed 20 million units.

If those forecasts are achieved, it will make fiscal 2019 the most successful year for Nintendo in eight years - back when the Nintendo Wii was at its most popular. However, that's still below analysts' average estimate for ¥308.6 billion.

"Furukawa comes across as thoughtful, very knowledgeable and quite well informed," said Atul Goyal, an analyst at Jefferies Group. "He is fluent in English. He may be the perfect person to fill the communication gap that exists between Nintendo and investors."

He added that Furukawa has also contributed to software development at Nintendo during his time there, and was involved in the making of the Switch.

"We will develop the company to its fullest," Furukawa said at a news conference in Osaka. "I will balance Nintendo's traditions: originality and flexibility."

In its financial report, Nintendo also reported that its operating profit had made it to ¥21.1 billion in the latest quarter, compared with analysts' average projection for ¥20.2 billion.