Gameplay said today that it expects group revenues for the half year to January 31 2001 to exceed £40million. The announcement was made by chairman, Mark Strachan, in a bid to halt the outfit's sliding share price. The etailing games portal said that market conditions "remain tough" but was "confident that the company will be able to reach profitability within its current cash resources". This is in spite of a shortage of PlayStation 2 consoles and the associated lift in software sales that would accompany hardware sales. It made no mention that its UK MD, Tim Coles, left the company earlier this week. It's almost as if the company is embarrassed to talk about it.

The administrators nursing debt-ridden ISP, Breathe, have held talks with a couple of prospective purchasers, according to a PR operative who spoke to

. Nothing has come of it, though. Apparently.

Internet incubator, Brainspark, has sold weddings portal, Perfectday, to its former JV partner, James Buchanan, for an undisclosed sum. Another of Brainspark's partner companies, HoboMedia, announced it is ceasing trading after a deal to buy the music portal fell through.

The management team at stock trading outfit, Charles Schwab Corp, have had their salaries cut in half in a bid to control expenses, according to an

report. And merry bloody Christmas to you too. ®

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