Eidos parent SCi Entertainment Group expects to post a loss of ‘n...
Eidos parent SCi Entertainment Group expects to post a loss of “no more than” 100 million pounds ($199.7 million at $1=0.500630 pounds) for its fiscal year ended June 30, it said Tuesday. The loss “reflects both the significant write-…
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offs made” by it and delays of various major game releases from the second half into its next fiscal year, SCi said. SCi won’t release preliminary fiscal year results until Sept. 15. “We have a clear strategy in place and have taken decisive steps to become a studio-led business with a focus on cornerstone franchises and a flexible approach to distribution,” said CEO Phil Rogers. There had already been “substantial change” at the company, best known for the Lara Croft Tomb Raider games, and the business “is in good shape to take advantage of the strong overall market for video gaming worldwide,” Rogers said. “Good progress” marked the back half of the year on cost reduction and the restructuring plan outlined Feb. 29 (CED March 3 p8), SCi said. The company recently arranged a new debt facility of 25 million pounds and raised 60 million pounds before expenses via a “Placing and Open Offer” of new shares to provide working capital, it said. Integration of its North American distribution with Warner Bros. was “on track with full collaboration on upcoming title launches,” it also said. The company ended the financial year with cash of 28 million pounds, which it said was “ahead of internal projections due to prudent cash management and the timing of payments under the restructuring program.” The game Age of Conan, which Eidos co-published, was released in May and “met its internal sales target of 1 million units faster than expected,” SCi said. The game became the No. 1 PC game in the U.K., U.S., Germany and “many other territories,” it said. Game releases planned the first half of the 2008/09 fiscal year include Tomb Raider Underworld, Nov. 18 in the U.S. and Nov. 21 in other markets. Its second half launch schedule includes Just Cause 2, Battlestations Pacific and a Batman game. But the company and Warner failed to introduce a Batman title to capitalize on theatrical release last week of The Dark Knight, already one of 2008’s biggest box office hits.