PSP supplies saved Game's Christmas

Game said it had secured a much improved supply of the consoles in the days before Christmas, and sales of PSP hardware and software had been strong.

This helped Game to report a 26.6% rise in like-for-like sales over the six weeks to 7 January.

The firm now expects to report annual profits of between �8m and �10m.

This outstanding Christmas sales performance has helped an otherwise difficult year Peter Lewis, Game Group chairman See Game's share price

This is up from previous forecasts of �3m, but still well down on last year's figure of �31.9m.

The upbeat sales news meant shares in Game Group were up by 4.55% to 82p by the end of trading.

In 2006, Game said it expected rapid growth in sales of both the Sony PSP and Microsoft Xbox 360, and was also looking forward to the expected launch of the Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Revolution in the second half of the year.

"This outstanding Christmas sales performance has helped an otherwise difficult year as the industry transitions to the next technology cycle," said chairman Peter Lewis.