Parry will announce that business at the publishing house was in line with expectations during its first quarter (October to December), “with continued softness in some games revenues, compensated for by online revenue growth exceeding expectations.”

He adds: “Continuing operating costs and overheads remained under tight control during the quarter – running at an annualised level GBP4.5m below those for last year. The Group’s EBITA profit generated for the quarter was in line with expectations.

“Although we continue to take a cautious view of our markets and anticipate that trading conditions will remain challenging throughout 2007, our new financial year has begun well and implementation of the strategy outline on November 29th continues on track.”