British computer games company Eidos has unveiled narrower losses, pinning its hopes for recovery on a number of new releases planned for this year.

The company said losses before one-off costs for the year to late March fell to �4.8m from �20.9m the previous year.

The reduced losses reflect a cut of nearly 25% in operating costs, including a 50% reduction in advertising expenditure.

Eidos said it was well-placed to cash in on "impressive" growth in the global market for computer games, fuelled by the launch of new games consoles such as Sony's Playstation II.

"The continuing strong growth in the market for next generation consoles marks the beginning of a new phase of growth for the group," said Eidos chairman John van Kuffeler.

Lara rides again

Investors reacted cautiously, marking Eidos shares 1.25p lower at 145.75p in lunchtime trade on Wednesday.

New Eidos games in the pipeline include a new instalment of the Tomb Raider series, featuring popular cyber-heroine Lara Croft.

Many of the games due to be released in the coming months were originally scheduled for launch before the end of the company's financial year in late March.

Postponing their launch hit the company's sales, which came in down on the year by a quarter at �120.3m.

Last year, Eidos suffered from delays in the roll-out of new gaming consoles, with many players putting off purchases until the new devices became available.

Target

The company was one of the stock market's star performers during the late 1990s, riding high on the back of a global computer game craze.

But Eidos' fortunes have waned since, with its share price well down on its late 1999 peak of nearly �12.

The company has been the subject of persistent takeover rumours.

French computer games maker Ubi Soft is the most recent firm to be identified as a possible buyer, although it has said a takeover would be too expensive for the moment.