Former stock market darling Eidos, home to the creators of Lara Croft, saw its shares fall this week after figures showed a slide in sales and profits.

While the video games maker's poor figures had been expected after a profit warning last month, investors were disappointed the group issued no major strategic announcements.

Turnover for the three months to December 31st was down 19 per cent to £98.5 million sterling (€125 million) from £121.5 million at the same stage a year earlier.

Operating profits were down 48 per cent from £49.8 million to £25.9 million.

Chief executive Mr Charles Cornwall blamed the poor figures on delayed product releases and some underperformance in key markets, particularly in France and Germany.

But he remained confident in the company's future success on the back of new launches including adventure games such as Resident Evil 3, Thief 2 and Final Fantasy VIII.

Analysts pointed out that strong buying of Eidos shares by private investors had recently pushed them up.

There had been some speculation the company could have been the subject of a bid by the likes of French entertainment software group, Infogrames. Mr Kean Marden, analyst at Warburg Dillon Read said: "We saw the numbers we were all expecting but there was no new stuff on strategy and products so the shares have slipped back."

He said the big City institutions had not been buying into the shares during the gains of the past fortnight.