Lara Croft creators go back into the black

Eidos, the computer games company behind the hit series Tomb Raider, insisted its troubles were now behind it as it moved back into the black.

The company, which issued a profit warning earlier this summer only to take it back a month later, has attracted criticism for failing to get new games out on time.

Jonathan Kemp, Eidos' European managing director, insisted yesterday that the company was "through the turnaround programme" and was starting to deliver results. "People have said we've been a one-product company with Tomb Raider and that's clearly not the case ... in addition to that, we've got greater control over our release dates, taking that risk out of our business," he said.

Eidos is set to launch four key titles in the run-up to Christmas including Backyard Wrestling, Commandos 3 and Legacy of Kain.

In the year to 30 June, the company made pre-tax profits of £17.4m compared with a loss of £15.3m a year before. Sales from continuing operations jumped 30 per cent to £151.5m.

The company said it shipped 12.5 million units of its games during the year, up from 11.4 million last year. Mr Kemp said he expected the latest Tomb Raider game, called The Angel of Darkness, to sell at the top end of the forecast 2 million to 2.5 million range of units in the 12 months since it launched.

Analysts at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein cautioned, however, that visibility remained "cloudy" for both the company and the sector. "Consensus forecasts, in our view, will not be easy for the group to meet as they require 19 per cent turnover growth on what was a strong 2003 release schedule," they said.