Mad Catz Posts Improved Loss On Game Diversification

Officials from video game accessories maker and publisher Mad Catz Interactive have announced the company’s financial results for the first quarter ended June 30th, in which net sales rose and overall losses lessened, apparently due to to sales of game and accessory package Real World Golf. The company, which also makes officially licensed Xbox 360 controllers and a variety of other peripherals, reported that net sales rose by 22.6 percent to $18.1 million, while gross profits rose by 61.7 percent to $3.7 million. Despite the other positive results, a net loss was still reported of $0.9 million, compared to a net loss of $2.1 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2006. According to Mad Catz, these sales results represent the highest level of first quarter net sales in the company’s history, despite the currently difficult market during the transition between console generations. Sales growth in the U.S. was measured at 29 percent while Canadian sales rose by 89 percent, led by a strong performance by PlayStation 2 title Real World Golf, which is a combination golf controller and game, and is licensed from UK company In2Games. Commenting on the results, Darren Richardson, Mad Catz president and CEO, stated, "Mad Catz achieved record first quarter net revenues despite the industry challenges presented by the ongoing console transition and the fact that the fiscal first quarter is historically our slowest period of the year." He continued: "Our ability to overcome these industry and seasonality factors is a direct result of our initiatives to diversify our revenue sources as evidenced by the success this quarter of Real World Golf which drove an increase in net sales and gross profit, and offset continuing softness in our core accessory business.”