Le PDG d'Infogrames, Bruno Bonnell, a rejeté les appels à la démission de la société qu'il a fondé et dit qu'il est convaincu qu'Infogrames parviendra à résoudre le problème de sa dette. Le "Financial Times" note que le fondateur du numéro un européen des jeux vidéo est convaincu que son groupe sortira de sa crise d'endettement.

Rappelons que la chute de sa valeur boursière et la déception provoquée par trois années de lourdes pertes ont conduit plusieurs membres du comité de direction à critiquer la stratégie de Bruno Bonnell et à demander sa démission.

Bruno Bonnell, chief executive of Infogrames has dismissed calls to step down from the company he founded and says he is "convinced" Europe's largest computer games developer will find a way out of its current debt crisis.

Infogrames needs to repay €346m ($371m) of convertible bonds, issued at the height of the stock market boom but now deeply out of the money, when they mature in July 2004 and July 20 05.

The looming debt crisis has undermined investor confidence in Infogrames and sparked a sharp fall in its shares from a peak of €58 in March 2000 to Friday's close of €2.53.

The collapse in its market capitalisation and the disappointment of three years of heavy losses have prompted several board members to criticise Mr Bonnell's strategy and call for hi m to step down.

Patrick Sayer, chief executive of Eurazeo, which has a 4.7 per cent stake in Infogrames, stepped down from the board last year. Thierry Dassault, representing Dassault Multimedia's 2 per cent stake, followed earlier this year. However, Mr Bonnell, who founded the company in 1983, says there are clear signs it has turned the corner and he has no plans to step down.

He points to the €102m debt repaid last month using part of its treasury stock and its first ever positive operating cashflow of €48m achieved in the six months to December 31 2002 a s clear signs it is on a more stable financial footing.

"This was really important to prove to the banks we are capable of producing positive cashflow and increase confidence ahead of negotiations on refinancing the rest of the debt," he says.

The future of the company could hinge on the performance of its Enter the Matrix game, due to be launched on May 15 to coincide with the release of the sequel to the blockbuster movi e The Matrix.

Infogrames bought Shiny Entertainment, a US studio that owns the right to adapt games from Matrix movies, for $47m in cash last year. It is expected to spend a further $50m on develo ping and marketing Enter the Matrix.

Mr Bonnell says: "The Matrix will be a phenomenon that will allow us to generate a great deal of cash". He expects the game to sell 2.5m copies in its first six weeks.

But one analyst says Infogrames will need to sell about 5m to 6m copies before it starts earning a return on its investment and even then it will struggle to generate enough cashflow to pay off debt falling due over the next two years.