SCi GROUP PLC ISSUES TRADING UPDATE
Copyright 2007 SCi Entertainment Press Release

[ January 24th 2007 ]

The Board of SCi Entertainment Group Plc, the UK's leading video and computer games publisher, is pleased to announce that the Group has traded in line with expectations in the first six months of the financial year, to 31 December 2006.

Revenue in the six months to 31 December 2006 is expected to exceed £70 million, a 40% increase on revenue in the corresponding period to 31 December 2005 (£50.1 million). The majority of the increase in revenue arose from the distribution of products, particularly Justice League Heroes and continued sales of Lego Star Wars.

As in prior years, the major portion of the Group's product releases and revenues arise in the second half of the financial year. The Group has therefore not revised its internal budget for the financial year as a whole. As in the 2006 financial year our internal budget plans a loss in the first half followed by a profit for the full year.

In the six months to 31 December 2006 the Group's most successful new product launch was Just Cause. Just Cause was released in September 2006 and immediately entered the UK charts at No 1 in the Microsoft Xbox 360 charts and No 2 in the All Formats charts.

We now expect Just Cause to sell over one million units in the current financial year. The sequel to Just Cause is in development. The Group also released Reservoir Dogs, Bionicle Heroes, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and the PC version of Championship Manager 2006/7.

Approximately one third of revenue for the first half arose from the distribution of third party titles. Lego Star Wars, first launched in April 2005, continued to sell strongly. We have now sold over 5.4 million units of Lego Star Wars. In addition we released Justice League Heroes in November 2006. This title has performed strongly and we now expect sales to exceed one million units in the current financial year.

Our second half release schedule will include Tomb Raider Anniversary which celebrates 10 years of Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider Anniversary will be released on Playstation 2, PSP and PC in April 2007.

Our second half releases include a growing number of products aimed at the casual and family market. These products include Pony Friends, Zendoku, Diner Dash, Prism: Light the Way, Ora: Use Your Emotion and PC versions of six classic casual games including Luxor: Amun Rising, Jewel Quest and Cubis 2.

Following the success of Just Cause on the Microsoft 360 platform, we will launch Battlestations Midway on the 360 (as well as a PC version) in February 2007.

Our future next generation console titles include new versions of Tomb Raider, Hitman and Championship Manager plus exciting new IPs including Kane & Lynch and Crossfire. In the light of the launch of the Sony Playstation 3 in North America in November 2006 and its planned European launch in Spring 2007 we are assessing the timing of when to launch these titles on the appropriate next generation platforms.

We are very pleased to be distributing the PC version of the forthcoming Massively Multiplayer On line title Age of Conan. We expect this title to be released during 2007, with future updates.

Part of the Group's strategy is to publish a wider range of titles to match the broadening demographics of games buyers. In line with this strategy, On 15 January 2007 shareholders approved the resolution necessary to complete the agreements with Warner Bros announced on 15 December 2006.

These agreements strengthen our relationship with one of the world's largest media companies. The proceeds from the share subscription will be invested into further growth opportunities including expansion of our product pipeline, building further development capacity in low cost locations such as Canada and China and expansion of our New Media and Casual Games divisions.

We expect returns from this investment to benefit the 2008 financial year onwards.

 
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2024 tombraiderchronicles.com
tombraiderchronicles.com is not owned or operated by CDE Entertainment Ltd.
Lara Croft and Tomb Raider are trademarks of CDE Entertainment Ltd.
Materials in this web site are trademarked and copyrighted properties of their respective owners.