Eidos Announce H1 ’05 Results News

Times are certainly getting hard for British publisher Eidos as speculation continues to mount over rumoured take-over bid and the companyâ??s share prices drops on a daily basis. This week has seen the share price drop to record lows with over a third of the companyâ??s value wiped off from Mondayâ??s 58.25p to 38.75p so far today. The shadow that been hanging over the company can be attributed to the announcements made in May 2005 describing poor sales of Hitman: Contracts and a delay to Shellshock: Nam â??67, which resulted in the share price dropping by a third from 177p a share to120p in the space of 24 hours.

The report also confirms that a bid has been received for the UK publisher claiming, â??â?¦we [Eidos] received a proposal on 2 March 2005 in relation to a possible cash offer at a price of 53 pence per share subject to one principal condition. However there can be no assurance that this condition will be satisfied and no certainty that an offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made. This disclosure has not been made with the consent of the other party concerned.â?

The results themselves are far from comforting for the Eidos Board of Directors or the companyâ??s shareholders. In the 6-month period ending on December 31st 2004, Eidos had an operating loss of £26.5 million down from an operating profit of £7.1 million for the same period in 2003. Whilst the company was prepared for a loss in the period, the results were exacerbated by the delay in releasing Championship Manager 5 and disappointing sales in other titles.

Putting a brave front, John van Kuffeler, Chairman of Eidos stated, â??On the positive side, we have been pleased with the performance of ShellShock: Nam â??67 and with the good reviews received for Project: Snowblind which forms part of a strong residual release line up for the remainder of FY2005 including Championship Manager 5, LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, Imperial Glory and Commandos Strike Force.â?

But with ex-Champ Man developers Sports Interactive enjoying the continued success of Football Manager 2005, which tops the charts this week and Project: Snowblind failing to get into the Top 20 things are far from positive for the company, especially since the reports admits that two anticipated titles, Tomb Raider 7 and the next Hitman, have been put back to the fiscal year 2006, which runs from the end of June 2005 to the end of June 2006.

Almost as a footnote to the report, van Kuffeler admits that as it currently stands, â??[the] outlook for Eidos as an independent company remains challenging.â?

Weâ??ll have more on Eidos soon...