Losses down for Infogrames

The audited first-half financial year results for Infogrames have been posted, with the company reporting that it is finally trimming its losses. As part of its attempts to streamline operations and save the company from bankruptcy, Infogrames has sold off a number of internal studios over the last six months, including Paradigm, Shiny, Reflections (and related Driver rights), and, most recently, Melbourne House.

The strategy seems to be slowly paying off. Infogrames has posted an operating loss of 33.4 million euros ($43.9 million) for the six months ending September 30, compared to a loss of 45.4 million euros ($59.8 million) over the same period last year.

However, the company's sales were down from 123 million euros ($162 million) for that time frame last year to 105.5 million euros ($138.9 million) this year. The majority of revenue came from Europe and Asia, accounting for 63.5 percent of the total, with the remainder from the US.

There was an improvement to Infogrames' gross margin of 7.6 points, at 41.9 percent of revenue, which totals 44.2 million euros ($58.2 million). This was due to, among other factors, improved distribution systems and the moderate success of the Xbox 360 racer Test Drive Unlimited, which had sold nearly 121,000 copies in the US as of October 31.

Infogrames subsidiary Atari Inc. reported its earnings at the beginning of November, announcing a wafer-thin profit for the July-September quarter. At just $311,000, it was still cause for celebration as it marked the company's first profitable quarter in several years. Infogrames shareholders have also recently approved a debt-restructuring plan for the company aimed at further improving its financial situation.