Gameloft's H1 income jumps from 08 loss to 2.2 million euros profit

As is the way of French public companies, Gameloft (GFT.PA) has added more detail to its H1 2009 financials, initially announced at the end of July.

On sales of €60.1 million, its operating income was €4.5 million, up 65 percent year-on-year.

Its operating margin is 7.6 percent, compared to 5.5 percent in the first half of 2008.

Net income was €2.2 million, compared to a loss of €0.8 million in H1 2008.

The company has no debt and net cash reserves of €16.9 million, up 57 percent.

Gameloft stated a combination of sales growth and a stabilisation of the company's headcount was the reason behind its impressive figures.

It also said it was 'probably' the company best placed to benefit most from the innovation introduced by "traditional telephone manufacturers such as Nokia and Samsung and from the arrival of new dynamic players in the market such as Apple and RIM".

For example, it has released 35 games for iPhone and iPod touch, of which it claimed 18 have been ranked in the top 10 best-selling game.

PocketGamer.biz's ongoing analysis of the US App Store Top 100 has Gameloft as the second biggest publisher after EA Mobile. It currently has 11 games in the US Top 100.

Finally, Gameloft stated it was one of the few publishers that had the resources and know-how to support the launch of new download services such as Sony's PlayStation Network and Nintendo's DSiWare.

For these reasons, it will be renewing its growth target for sales as well as for profitability over the full year of 2009.

You can read Gameloft's full results here.