May 21--Grapevine-based GameStop Corp. said Thursday that first-quarter sales were strong, but said that the recession is expected to pinch second-quarter results.

The video-game retailer reported sales in the quarter of $1.98 billion, up 9.2 percent from $1.81 billion in the first quarter of 2008.

That resulted in a profit of $70.4 million, or 42 cents per share, up 13.4 percent from $62.1 million, or 37 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2008.

That profit number matched what analysts had been expecting, although sales had been predicted to come in a notch higher at $2 billion.

GameStop also pointed to some tough future trends.

Same-store sales, for example, fell 1.5 percent in the quarter, which the company blamed mostly on the recession in Europe, where the company has been expanding.

GameStop expects same store sales to decline in the range of 8 percent to 11 percent in the second quarter.

Overall, earnings per share are expected to be in the range of 28 cents per share to 33 cents per share in the second quarter, down from 34 cents per share in the second quarter of 2008.

GameStop noted that the second quarter of 2008 was exceptionally strong, making it tough to repeat last year's performance, but acknowledged that it is also now confronting a "significantly more brittle global economy."

Even so, the company remains confident that full-year earnings will be in the range of $2.83 per share to $2.93 per share, an increase of 18 percent to 22 percent over 2008.

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