Buckle up buttercup, Games Workshop’s annual financials are out. This report is perhaps the most revealing one in recent memory, come see how GW is doing!
via GW Investor Relations
Some top level numbers: (2015 vs 2015)
Revenue: -4%
Operating Profit (pre exceptional items & royalties) -3%
Operating Profit +25%
Earnings per share: +51%
Sales Channel Reports:
Retail: -4.6%
Trade Sales: -6.3%
Mail-order (web store): +3.9%
Excerpts from the CEO:
“Our customers tend to be teenage boys and male adults with some spare money to spend and time to enjoy hobbies. I’d like to think our Hobby – modelling, painting, collecting, gaming – is for anyone. Our customers are found everywhere. Our job is to, on a day to day basis, find them, commercially, wherever they are.”
“We seek out our customers all over the world. We believe that our customers carry our Hobby gene and to find them we apply our tried and tested approach of recruiting customers in our own stores, by offering a fantastic customer experience.”
“Mail order – the mail order store allows enthusiasts full access to all Games Workshop products. It is run centrally from Nottingham. It accounted for 21% of total sales in 2014/15.”
“We have taken the decision in the year to rebrand our stores ‘Warhammer’. It is what our customers call us. This will be rolled out progressively, as and when we open new or refurbish our existing stores. At the year end date we had 13 Warhammer branded stores.”
“In the period we signed 17 new deals and have 44 contracts currently in place to produce more than 50 interactive products. Reported income is split: 52% traditional PC games, 27% mobile and 21% card, board and role-playing game licences. 37 new products were released in the period. We also announced a major tie up with SEGA to develop a real time strategy game ‘Total War: Warhammer’.”
“I will review our product range. We believe this is long overdue: it is time for a resetting of the ranges. Not tweaking here and there but a top down reassessment. I expect to update you further at the half year. We will aim to continue to deliver outstanding product and customer service, maintain our Group gross margin and continue to improve our Group stock turn. To be absolutely clear I will not be reducing the RRP of our products: they are premium priced for their premium quality. I will, however, be looking to offer a broader range of price points.”
I keep re-reading this thing and seeing more and more items that I think are super relevant to the current state of the Table Top industry. Looks for more on this soon!
Games Workshop Financial Roundup
~What’s your take?
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
