Infogrames Updates Results Following Atari Earnings

Following yesterday's release of Atari's financial results, showing significant losses for the U.S. division of French-headquartered Infogrames, its French parent has also released financial data, showing reduced revenue, but no profit information, since this is not required under French financial law. The company announced that revenue from ordinary business for the second quarter of fiscal 2005/2006 amounted to 70.2 million euros ($82.96 million), down from 99.8 million euros ($117.94 million) in the same period a year ago, but pronounced itself confident that "sales for the period are consistent with the Group's publishing strategy and normal seasonal market fluctuations." In addition, the company pointed out that the sale back to Hasbro of digital gaming rights given out in the Hasbro Interactive acquisition gave Infogrames 52.7 million euros ($62.28 million), and "this transaction will have a significant impact on consolidated net income" - however, this continues a pattern of asset sales which does not necessarily bode well in the long-term for the firm. In other news, the sales information for the half year revealed that Infogrames and Atari are faring much worse in the U.S. than Europe of recent - North American sales as a percentage of total revenues decreased from 51% in the first financial half of 2004-5 to 38% in the first half of 2005-6, as the percentage European and Asian revenues relatively increased to 50% and 12% respectively. In addition, for the 6 months ending September 30, 2005, Infogrames now sells a greater percentage of its games on PC, at 42%, than any other format, with PlayStation 2 a relatively close second at 33%, and no other format receiving more tha 10% of sales, a relatively surprising statistic, since the vast majority of other publishers are increasing their console revenue percentages.