- Games Workshop revealed its pre-tax profits rose by a third to £126.8m
- The video game Space Marine 2 sold two million copies the day it was released
Games Workshop has recorded its best ever first half result as demand for the Warhammer brand continues to strengthen.
The board games maker, which recently joined the FTSE 100, revealed its pre-tax profits rose by a third to £126.8m, beating forecasts, in the six months to 1 of December.
Its turnover rose 20.9 per cent to £299.5m, while sales to commercial customers soared 21.3 per cent to £165.7m, and the group secured record orders in retail stores in the United Kingdom, North America and continental Europe.
Revenue was boosted by the release of the video game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, which helped more than double Games Workshop’s licensing revenue from £12.1 million to £30.1 million.
Space Marine 2, developed by Saber Interactive, sold two million copies on the day of its release and five million by the end of November.
Games Workshop also enjoyed high demand for new editions of its war games Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team.
Performance: Games Workshop has recorded its best ever first half result amid continued excellent demand for Warhammer miniatures.
“I am delighted to report our best ever first half performance,” said Kevin Rountree, CEO of Games Workshop.
The Nottingham-based group’s results come about a month after it agreed creative guidelines with Amazon to adapt Warhammer 40,000 into films and TV shows, along with associated merchandising rights.
Under the agreement, Amazon has an additional option to license equivalent rights in the Warhammer Fantasy universe following the launch of the initial production of Warhammer 40,000.
Adam Vettese, market analyst at eToro, commented: “Games Workshop’s Warhammer series appears to be the golden goose that keeps laying eggs.”
He added: “Warhammer is more popular than ever, and especially now with multiple revenue streams to exploit its popularity, making money while the sun shines seems to be what the company is doing.”
Games Workshop does not anticipate any “material impact” on its performance for the current financial year due to the autumn budget.
While the national living wage is expected to rise by 77p to £12.21 in April, the company said it paid all its UK employees close to that amount.
But despite this forecast and its excellent semi-annual performance, Games Workshop shares fell 2.6 per cent to £128.90 shortly after midday on Tuesday.
However, the company’s shares have still soared by around 2,575 per cent over the last decade, taking its value to around £4.3bn.
Under Rountree’s leadership, Games Workshop’s growth has been fueled by improved fan relations and the introduction of more streamlined games such as Blood Bowl, a parody of American football.
Much of its expansion was fueled by Covid-19 restrictions that encouraged cooped-up consumers to find new hobbies to occupy their time.
Having experienced several consecutive years of sales and profit growth, the group joined the FTSE 100 in December, shortly before its 50th anniversary.
Games Workshop was founded in 1975 by three friends, Ian Livingstone, John Peake and Steve Jackson, in a flat in Shepherd’s Bush as a board game seller.
Before founding Warhammer in the early 1980s, the company was the exclusive UK and European distributor of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
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