Infogrames' restated earnings still bleak

Infogrames CEO Bruno Bonnell updated his company's earnings in a telephone conference with analysts and investors today. The updated numbers, however, were hardly any better than those the company previously released earlier in the month.

For the full half-year ending September 30, Atari Inc. parent Infogrames saw revenues slump but losses trimmed. Revenues were off 52 percent to 125.7 million euros ($147 million) for the six-month period. The bottom line for the full half-year saw a loss of 16.7 million euros ($19.7 million), which compares to a loss of 26.1 million euros ($30.7 million) for the same period a year ago.

Commenting on the earnings, Bonnell indicated that the second half of the year would be better. "The overall trend for the first-half is absolutely not the benchmark for the full year," he said today. But he also admitted that hurdles still needed clearing. "This year's Christmas will be complicated because there will be market disruptions tied to the arrival of new consoles and also because some game makers are aggressive on prices ahead of Christmas."

Commenting on the recently released The Matrix: Path of Neo, sent to retailers earlier in the month, Bonnell was also cautious, recognizing the strong competition in Ubisoft's King Kong. "Shipments are satisfactory," Bonnell said of Neo, "but we have not won the war yet. We must be cautious."

Referring directly to Kong, Bonnell added, "It will be an interesting competition to know if one wants to become an ape or a god."

Infogrames mitigated its losses due to a net gain of 36.6 million euros ($43.2 million) derived from the sale of some game rights back to license grantor Hasbro Inc.

In the deal, announced last June, Hasbro paid Infogrames $65 million to reacquire a number of digital gaming rights to previously licensed properties including Transformers, My Little Pony, Tonka, Magic: The Gathering, and Playskool. That sale modified an earlier agreement between the companies inked in 2000.

In related news, Infogrames said it had appointed Thierry Dettloff as the company's new finance director, and that Dominique d'Hinnin, CFO of French media giant Lagardere, had signed on to the Infogrames board of directors.