French publisher Ubisoft’s financial report for the six months ending September 30th 2007 has been announced, and the figures show that the publisher’s sales climbed by over 50 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The firm’s gross margin hit 64.1 per cent, up from the 59.4 per cent seen in the same period last year. Operating income totalled €9.1 million, significantly better than the €33.6 million loss experienced last time out. This was pinned on reduced R&D expenses and solid back-catalogue sales. Operating income was €12.5 million – last year the firm saw a loss of €35.3 million.

It was also revealed that sales of next generation games accounted for 75 per cent of the publisher’s sales – a significant jump from the 39 per cent a year earlier.

"Ubisoft's excellent sales performance during the first half of fiscal 2007-08 has considerably boosted our earnings figures for the period,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated.

“In addition, the early indications for our Christmas games launches have been positive, especially for Assassin's Creed, whose sell-through sales have already topped the record level of 1 million units. These very strong trends further underpin our confidence that we will achieve our objectives for the current year and add further impetus for fiscal 2008-09, which we expect to be a another year of robust growth for the Group."