Ubisoft has reported a rise in fiscal first-half sales and operating income for the six months to September 30th.

However, net profit slipped in the period – down to €24 million from €30.6 million.

The publisher posted sales of €344.5 million for H1, up from €261.4 million for the comparable period a year ago.

Ubisoft attributed the 32 per cent rise to strong performance of casual games – such as its Imagine range on DS –and the company's distribution business.

Operating income was €24.7 million, up from the €12.5 million posted a year prior.

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Ubisoft chief exec Yves Guillemot said in a statement, "Our strong first-half growth fueled a sharp rise in profitability. Based on our initial sales figures for the third fiscal quarter and thanks to the diversity of our game line-up, we are confident that we will be able to achieve the targets that we recently raised for full-year 2008-09, despite a highly competitive environment marked  by the launch of numerous high-quality games.”

Ubisoft reiterated its financial sales guidance of €500 million for fiscal Q3 and €1.05 billion for the full fiscal year. Current operating income before stock based compensation is projected to be 13 percent of sales.

The firm stated, "Sales have begun solidly for Ubisoft’s Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party and casual games are outperforming expectations while Tom Clancy's End War got off to a slower start."