EA (NASDAQ: ERTS) has announced its preliminary FY11 financials, which reveal EA Mobile's sales were $230 million for the 12 months ending March 2011.

This is growth of 8.5 percent compared to the $212 million it recorded in 2010.

More impressive however is the division's $70 million of revenue booked during Q4, the first three months of 2011.

This is up 27 percent year-on-year, or 19 percent compared to the previous sequential Christmas period.

Indeed, six months ago, EA Mobile's revenues declined for the first time, suggesting it was struggling to deal with the transition from Java and Brew to smartphones.

Market leader

What's also notable about EA Mobile's Q4 revenue is that it would have been the first complete period including sales from Chillingo, which was bought in late October.

EA Mobile also released big iOS titles such as Dead Space during the period, as well as holding many of its now regular 99c Apple App Store sales.

It pointed out it had 15 of the top 25 paid games on the iPhone Easter Weekend, while revenue from iOS devices in Q4 increased by more than 100 percent year-on-year.

No doubt, EA is also pleased to see that its performance puts it well ahead of arch rival Gameloft, which had 2010 sales of €141 million (around $193 million), although this was for the calendar year 2010 so not a direct comparison.

In addition, EA doesn't break out profit figures for EA Mobile so we can't compare these either. 

Hold my hand

In terms of other handheld game sales, PSP revenues during Q4 were down 57 percent to $16 million. Total PSP game sales during FY11 were $74 million.

DS sales in Q4 were up 27 percent year-on-year, with the 12 month total being $96 million.

Sales in EA's category Total Mobile and Handhelds were $400 million for the 12 months.

The complete picture

Across all its divisions, EA recorded FY2011 sales of $3.6 billion, down 2 percent year-on-year.

It made a loss of $276 million, compared to a loss of $677 million in FY10; figures provided under the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Cashflow was up, however, 111 percent to $320 million, and EA continues to point out its focus on revenue from digital game sales - over $750 million for the year.

Better times ahead

"We're happy to report another strong quarter, top and bottom line. We're particularly proud of the scale and growth rate of our digital business," said CEO John Riccitiello.

"EA is building its digital business in a way only EA can, with key brands performing well cross-platform from mobile, to social to console."

The company ended the quarter with cash, short-term investments, securities and receivables of $2.6 billion, up $211 million from the previous quarter.

For its FY2012, EA expects GAAP revenue of between $3.7 to $3.9 billion, while it hopes to breakeven or be marginally profitable.

[source: EA (PDF)]