French publisher Ubisoft today announced its fourth quarter and full-year fiscal results for the period ended March 31, 2008. Fourth quarter sales were up 10 percent to 217 million euros ($339 million). Full-year sales grew 36.4 percent to 928 million euros ($1.45 billion).

Ubisoft said its strong results were driven by "better-than-expected performances" from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, which reached almost two million sell-in units, the Games For Everyone (G4E) brands, which topped 230 million euros in sales for the year, and Assassin's Creed, which has sold over six million units since its release.

Ubisoft also noted that during the first three months of the 2008 calendar year (Q4 of its fiscal), the company posted 38 percent growth in the U.S. (compared with 28 percent for the U.S. market as a whole), with market share of 7.2 percent versus 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2007. In Europe Ubisoft saw growth of 43 percent (compared with 26 percent for the European market as a whole), with market share of 9.5 percent versus 8.4 percent in the first quarter of 2007. This made Ubisoft the number 3 independent publisher in the U.S. and the number 2 independent publisher in Europe.

"2007-08 was a remarkable year for Ubisoft, underpinned by three strategic achievements: Continued strengthening of existing franchises such as Rainbow Six, Rayman, The Settlers and Ghost Recon which recorded excellent sales levels," commented Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft. "The sharp ramp-up of the 'Games For Everyone' casual range, whose sales figures tripled over the year. A steady output of new releases with Assassin's Creed and Imagine that have performed exceptionally well. These strategic focuses will once again be the key to our success in 2008 which is set to be another record year for the industry with growth expected to reach at least 15%. Ubisoft's games line-up is particularly strong, with no fewer than seven existing franchises, five new releases and new brands in the casual segment."

For the first quarter of the 2008-2009 fiscal year, Ubisoft will release Haze for the PS3, Assassin's Creed and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for PC, and new casual games for the Nintendo DS and Wii. Sales for the period are expected to total about 154 million euros, which would be a 15 percent increase.

For the 2008-2009 year Ubisoft is maintaining a sales target of about 1 billion euros. The company is also raising its guidance for current operating income before stock options to at least 12 percent of sales (up from 11 percent). Ubisoft noted that this "takes into account savings on royalties resulting from the acquisition of the Tom Clancy name for video games and ancillary products as well as the Group's stronger back-catalog following better-than-expected performances in the fourth quarter of 2007-08."