Proving it doesn’t take long to become a serious player in the fickle world of technology, games and video compression company Eidos Plc has had a very active quarter in which it has says it has become a leading publisher of entertainment software in Europe. Indeed, the Middlesex-based London and Nasdaq-listed company saw profits for its third quarter soar to 7.8m British pounds from losses of 992,000 pounds last time on revenue that reached 32m pounds from just 28,000 pounds last time. The nine months to December 31 saw profits of 3.1m pounds against losses of 992,000 pounds last time on revenue up to 52.4m pounds from 1.2m pounds last time. It was a quarter that saw Eidos gain a Nasdaq listing (CI No 3,048), and raise 18m pounds through the issue of American Depositary receipts. The money is to be used for investments in and acquisitions of complementary businesses, development groups, titles and artistic content, the company says. Eidos also bought 25% of Norwegian Innerloop Technologies A/S (CI No 3,029) and released eight new games in the quarter. Chairman Ian Livingston says the group remains active in the current period, and has announced a long-term publishing and distribution agreement with US desgn studio ION Storm. It also signed an exclusive agreement with film studio MGM to market its James Bond range and other products, and an exclusive four-year publishing and distribution agreement with US-based Looking Glass Technologies Inc. The group is also negotiating to expand its interest in Norway. Earlier this month, Eidos finalized sale of 75% of its Silicon Dreams games development division to its architect and director Geoff Brown (CI No 3,064).