Infogrames Posts First-Half 2001 Loss, Denies Talks With Kalisto and Eidos

The company posted a net loss of $20.73 million, compared to a loss of $80.4 million a year ago. Sales for the company reached $325.4 million, an increase of 26%. R&D costs more than doubled to $50.9 million. The company said that its Infogrames Inc. unit (formerly GT Interactive) finally showed a profit in the second fiscal quarter. Thomas Schmider, Infogrames' Managing Director, said that the company should reach break-even at the operating level in the final quarter of the calendar year. For its 2000/01 fiscal year, the company expects an operating loss of about $27-33 million -- including an operating loss of $9-14 million for the Hasbro Interactive unit alone. CEO Bruno Bonnell said that the remainder of this year will be spent turning its newly acquired Hasbro Interactive unit around, and said that the company faces restructuring costs related to the Hasbro deal of about $20 million. Bonnell denied that Infogrames would acquire Kalisto (which is looking for a partner), and said that the company was not in talks with Eidos -- although he said he if the price was right, he'd consider some kind of deal with Eidos.