Ubisoft revenues up 9 percent

Calling earnings during the past six months "better than expected," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot announced the results for the company's second quarter this morning in Paris.

Citing strong sales of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow, and Myst IV: Revelation (in Europe), Guillemot said the company's revenues for the quarter were 68 million euros ($82 million), up 9 percent when compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Additionally, for the second half of the fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2005, the company expects to increase revenues by more than 13 percent. "The second part of the fiscal year looks very promising with several launches of high quality titles planned on a fast growing market," Guillemot said in a statement.

In the vital area of staffing, Guillemot said, "We are also making steady progress towards one of our main objectives for the year: the strengthening of our studios. As of the end of September, we had attained 70 percent of our annual objective of new talent recruitment." He predicted that "Ubisoft will…continue to gain market share and expand its product range in all current and future formats.”

In today's news, Ubisoft also announced a deal with LucasArts--to develop and publish Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith for the PSP, Nintendo DS, and Game Boy Advance.

The company is counting on strong showings of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (due next month), Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 2 (also due in November), the February 2005 release of Brothers In Arms, and the March 2005 release of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

Ubisoft saw much stronger sales in the European marketplace than from North America. The percentage of sales from Europe for the first half of the fiscal year jumped 16 percent: Ubisoft generated 57 percent of revenues from sales in Europe this year compared with 41 percent for the same period a year ago.