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EIDOS ADJUSTS
FORECAST PROJECTIONS
Copyright 2009 Eidos plc Press Release
[ January 9th 2009 ]
Eidos
plc is today providing an update to the market
on its trading performance over the Christmas
period. Tomb
Raider: Underworld was released on the major
gaming platforms on 18 November 2008 in North
America and 21 November 2008 in the rest of the
world.
We are
pleased that in our key European territories the
game charted in the Top 10 for the 6 weeks from
launch to Christmas* and performed well against
both competitive products and recent iterations
of the franchise.
However,
on a global basis our sell through to 31 December,
which we estimate at approximately 1.5 million
units, is below our internal forecasts, primarily
due to a lower start in North America. In a difficult
North American economy we have seen retailers
restricting inventory levels and triple-A products
being price discounted above our expectation.
Consequently
as we enter the second half of our financial year
we are cautious about the potential for ongoing
price discounting. We have therefore revised our
sales assumptions for Tomb Raider: Underworld
and other products to be released and estimate
our full year revenue will now be in the range
of £160m-£180m compared to our previous guidance
of £180m-£200m.
We have
passed our peak net debt position and we retain
sufficient headroom within our committed banking
facility but given revised profit expectations
we may need to enter into discussions with our
lending bank regarding our June 2009 covenants.
We believe
our strategy of focusing on cornerstone franchises
is further validated by the current challenging
and competitive environment. We are concentrating
our efforts and resources on those high quality
titles that will deliver long-term franchise value
while pro-actively managing our cost base and
exploring ways to improve the mechanics of the
business.
Looking
further into our 2009 financial year, we are encouraged
by the positive reaction to our forthcoming Batman:
Arkham Asylum videogame. We are working closely
with DC Comics and Warner Bros. and through our
strategic partnership we are benefitting from
cross-promotional opportunities including the
first video trailer for Batman: Arkham Asylum
featured on all DVDs of the movie The Dark Knight
this Christmas.
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