Turnover in fact slumped from £3.1m to only £205,000 in the year to 31 March while the pretax loss was reduced from £5.3m to £3.3m. No wonder these figures are buried away behind a batch of pious hopes.
Chief executive Dominic Wheatley reckons Bright Things continued to make ‘significant strategic progress’ following the launch of the Bubble games console.
Alas, the Bubble burst as Bright Things got the pricing hopelessly wrong. The distributor experienced a disappointing response then Bubble was launched in 2005 and it was only when the price was reduced in the final quarter of 2006 that remaining stocks were cleared.
No further orders are expected from the distributor and the future of Bubble will have to wait for the distribution agreement to run out. Bright Things draws the conclusion that while demand for the product exists, getting the retail price right is critical.
Put another way, the company will not be able to boost profits by raising the price and we have to wonder whether these things can actually be sold at a profit.
Undeterred, Bright Things places great hopes on interactive DVD. It has developed and launched its first action-style offering based on the Tomb Raider series. Golf star Tiger Woods will be teeing off for Christmas.
Wheatley enthuses: ‘With the majority of households now owning DVD players, we have identified a market opportunity to develop games for all ages to play on the DVD player.’
Meanwhile Bright Things has been developing its patented ASIC chip, used in the Bubble games console, for other uses although it admits no orders have been received yet.
Bright Things placed 10m shares at 11p last November. Those who coughed up are now suffering a bigger loss as the battered shares slumped 2.625p to 6p today, a drop of 30%. They were 200p a couple of years ago.
With jobs being slashed and the head office moved to save cash it is hard to feel optimistic despite the hype in today’s statement, which gives the impression that the seriousness of the situation is being brushed under the carpet.