Eidos Q3 Disappoints Investors

Revenues for the period came in at $124.3 million, down from $146.6 million last year. The company's net profit was $10.9 million (11 cents per share), compared to a net profit of $21.2 million (21 cents per share) last year. As a result, Eidos shares on the UK market fell about 15% on Wednesday. In the first nine months of the current financial year, Eidos posted a pre-tax loss of $98 million, and company executives said that the company's outlook remains cautious over the next 9-12 months due to the delays in PS2 shipments and the postponement of the Xbox launch in Europe. Highlights for the quarter included news that Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? shipped over a million units in the UK (making it Britain's fastest-ever selling game), and that eight new titles were launched in fiscal Q3, with four (Championship Manager Season 2000/2001, 102 Dalmatians, Chicken Run and Tomb Raider: Chronicles) shipping in excess of 350,000 units. Shares of Eidos are hovering around their 52-week low, and as a result, the company's market capitalization now hovers around $370 million, down from over $1.5 billion it was worth a little over a year ago. On the upside, Eidos says it has 30 titles in the development pipeline to be released over the next two years, and says that its "strategy of developing and publishing games based on its core brands and franchises, combined with the sustained review and reduction of the fixed cost base of the business, should allow a return to profitability in the next financial year."