JoWooD plans move into console publishing, reports strong H1 results

Vienna Stock Exchange listed publisher JoWooD has announced its financial results for the first half of 2004, revealing a 260 per cent year on year improvement in its bottom line and a 35 per cent rise in comparable revenues.

The Austrian firm reported a group result after minorities of 527,000 Euro, on revenues of 7.3 million Euro, and noted that results for the second quarter were up by some 90 per cent on the first quarter.

While the overall turnover figure is actually lower than the equivalent period last year, last year's figure would have included some 6.9 million Euro from distribution operations, a business which JoWooD no longer operates.

As such, comparable revenues in the publishing sector are up by 35 per cent - driven largely by a strong market share in Germany of 4.62 per cent, and strong performance outside German-speaking territories for the first time.

The company's next major aim is to move into the console market, with the firm hoping to use the rest of the year to position itself as the only German-speaking multi-platform publisher. It also has a strong catalogue of titles looking forward into 2005, with projects currently underway including Gothic III, Spellforce II, The Guild II, Hotel Giant II and Stargate.