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PoA Game Lifts EA Sales -
Latest Harry Potter game Summary:
"Strong sales of the new Harry Potter video game enabled Electronics Arts, the world's leading video game maker, to report better-than-expected fiscal first quarter results on Thursday."
- FT News
Article:
But shares in the US group slipped more than 2 per cent in after-hours trading because the company's did not raise full year guidance as much as Wall Street analysts had hoped.
Analysts have said EA faces strong challenges this year from rivals such as Sega, which is releasing a new American football video game that has received impressive reviews and is hitting the market earlier at a lower price than the newest version of EA's popular "Madden NFL" game.
EA said sales in the most recent quarter were driven new titles such as "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Fight Night 2004" and "UEFA Euro 2004," each selling more than 1m units in the quarter. EA said demand for these games was strongest in Europe.
The company also said Need for Speed Underground continued to perform strongly, with sales now totaling more than 7m units.
The US group, also known for games such as "The Sims" and "MVP Baseball 2004," said net income for the quarter ended June 30 was $24m, or 8 cents per share, compared with 18.4m, or 6 cents per share, for the same period last year. Sales were $432 million, up from $353 million last year. Analysts expected the company to report a profit of 5 cents per share on revenue of $421m.
For the current fiscal second quarter, EA said it expected earnings per share of 28-24-34 cents per share on sales of $680m-$715m. Analysts had expected earnings per share of 32 cents on revenue of $627m.
NPD, the market research group, said this week that US sales of video games rose 12 percent in June, suggesting the industry can meet full-year growth forecasts after a slow first half. EA said it expected full year sales of $3.3b-$3.4bn and earnings $2-$2.10 per share. Analysts had forecast revenue of $3.34bn and earnings of $2.05 per share.
Shares in EA slipped more than 2 per cent to $51.36 after closing the regular session at $52.65 on Thursday.
ELECTRONIC ARTS
Thanks to
FT News 
