Game Group now expects its profit for the fiscal year ended Jan. ...

million pounds the previous year, the retailer said Monday. It also believes comparable store growth of 5 to 10 percent for the current year is “achievable,” based on results so far in Q1 and thanks to the European launch of PS3 in March 2007, it said. The retailer predicted that its gross margin will improve 0.50 to 1 percentage point this year, “as the proportion of software in the sales mix increases” and it benefits from the recent purchase of the Gamestation chain from Blockbuster. The U.K.’s Competition Commission announced in January that the acquisition of Gamestation had received final unconditional clearance by a close vote (CED Jan 17 p6). Game Group expressed optimism in the “strong pipeline” of products expected to ship in Europe over the next few months, including Nintendo’s Wii game Mario Kart (April 11), Nintendo’s Wii Fit (April 25) and Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto IV (April 29). The market for PC and video games products “remains buoyant,” and Game Group is optimistic about the rest of the year, thanks to the “large and growing installed base of hardware in the market, a strong line-up of new product launches, the PS3 yet to reach the first anniversary of its launch and the benefits of a full year of the Gamestation acquisition in prospect,” it said. Game Group plans to release April 29, a week later than originally planned, its preliminary results for the past fiscal year. Late last week, the company announced the appointment of Tricia Brennan managing director of Game U.K. and Ireland, and Martyn Gibbs managing director of Gamestation. Separately, a Borders U.K. spokeswoman said her company was testing PC game sales at its Oxford Street, London, store and was weighing whether to expand into DS and Wii games.