THQ has announced its financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2009, showing a drop in sales but also reduced losses.

For its second quarter the publisher reported net sales of $101.3 million, compared with $164.8 million in the prior-year period, but its losses were heavily reduced from $115.3 million to $5.6 million.

According to data from the NPD Group and Chart-Track, THQ gained market share for the first nine months of calendar 2009, ranking as the third placed independent publisher in the US with a 5.4 per cent share and the fourth placed indie publisher in Europe with a 4.5 per cent share.

“THQ is now operating as a more focused, more efficient company,” said THQ CEO Brian Farrell. "We continue to deliver highly rated hit titles such as UFC 2009 Undisputed and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010. We believe we are well positioned this holiday with our strong mass-market line-up led by the highly rated WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, and the latest version of our multi-million unit franchise MX vs. ATV Reflex."

The company said that it expects to report full year sales growth and profitability for fiscal 2010.