Abundance of riches at Eidos

The spotlight is turning back to Stephen Streater, the Perrier-drinking, 29-year-old chief executive of computer software company Eidos. His company, sited in a tiny converted boathouse on the Thames at Hampton, first attracted attention with its video-editing equipment and is currently valued at £8m despite profits of just £47,834 in the six months to June 1994.

Recently, he has turned his attention to the critical question of how to play television programmes on computer screens, a conundrum computer giants are spending billions of pounds solving. His deal yesterday with Domark, the equally precocious British video games designer, supports his claim that he has cracked the codes that will allow any computer owner to play television programmes or receive video messages without worrying about compatibility or buying expensive new equipment.

If he is right, his codes could become an integral part of the booming CD-Rom and video-conferencing industries. The shares rose 10 per cent to 335p yesterday. For Mr Streater, an obsessive worker who owns about 20 per cent of Eidos, the problem remains of how to spend his riches.