Revenues for THQ (NSDQ: THQI) Wireless fell by 27 percent for the full fiscal year 2008, bringing in $19.579 million compared to $26.698 million for fiscal 2007. This represents a strong drop in the percentage of total THQ revenue made up for by wireless, which accounted for 1.9 percent of THQ revenue in 2008 compared to 2.6 percent in 2007. For the first quarter THQ Wireless revenues grew by 21.7 percent year-on-year, bringing in $5.237 million in Q108 compared to $4.302 million in Q107…this growth year-on-year is the brightest spot THQ Wireless has had for a while.
In the conference call, CEO Brian Farrell said that THQ plans to launch new wireless games based on Star Wars and Indiana Jones (the Harrison Ford strategy), as well as extensions of THQ’s console brands.
THQ Full Year: THQ reported net $1,030.5 million for the 12 months ending March 31 2008, a slight increase on the $1,026.9 million in sales the previous year (and the companies 13th consecutive year of growth). However, THQ reported a net loss of $35.3 million, or $0.53 per share compared to a net income of $68.0 million, or $1.01 per diluted share in fiscal 2007. THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell said that the company has three key initiatives to improve matters in 2009: a stronger slate of products; initiatives to improve product quality and competitiveness, and a change in cost structure to “generate significant operating leverage.” THQ projects net sales of between $1.175 million to $1.2 million for the next fiscal year, with operating margins “in the high single digits.”
Q1: For the first quarter of 2008 THQ reported net sales of $187.0 million, up from $172.1 million a year earlier. However, weaker-than-expected sell through of some of its previously released titles resulted in greater-than-anticipated price protection and reserves, as well as increased software amortization expense during the quarter. Therefore, THQ had a net loss of $34.5 million or $0.52 per share for the quarter, compared to a net income of $6.5 million or $0.09 per share a year ago. For the next quarter, THQ expects net sales of $115-125 million and net loss per share of $0.38 to $0.42 due to a weak product release schedule.
— In specific-game news, lifetime shipments of THQ’s games based on Nickelodeon and WWE each surpassed $1 billion.
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