GW’s stocks are sliding after ex-CEO Tom Kirby sells a large portion of his shares, and Games Workshop issues an ominous warning to the market.
UPDATE: As of COB Friday morning Oct 19, GW’s stock had dropped below the $40 a share mark, down $13 since Kirby’s sell-off.
Tom Kirby is GW’s ex-CEO, but still owned a large percentage of the business, until recently that is. Games Workshop’s shares are on a slide as we take a look at everything that’s been going on since their summer financial update.
GW’s Sales have been Growing
In the past year, the market has seen an unprecedented amount of success in Games Workshop’s sales. They’ve been so successful that they even gave a £5 million bonus spread across every job under the company.
However, Richard Roundtree, Games Workshop’s current CEO cautioned back in July it would be foolish to expect this steady rise in growth for long.
“…It would be unrealistic, if not daft, of me to promise that we can continue to grow at the rates we have reported over the last two years. I am not, however, planning to scale down our ambitions, I am just informing you of the back drop.”
After seeing a steady sales increase in the company for the past year, Richard Roundtree warned people of a potential slowdown to come in the near future.
Tom Kirby Sells a chunk of his GW Shares
As we’ve said before, Tom Kirby is the ex-CEO of Games Workshop, yet still holds a hefty amount of shares in the company. He recently sold off about 1.7% of his share equating to £20 million, after the market showed a steady increase value since Roundtree assumed the reins as CEO.
The stake represents 1.7% of Games Workshop, although Kirby still owns 4.8% of the business and is subject to a 180 day lock-up on the remaining shares.
Tom Kirby’s disposal may have caused the shares to fall by nearly 5% to £37.67 after a spectacular run…
Nealy 20 days later the slide has continued, and yesterday Games Workshop themselves issued an ominious warning:
Starting back in 2016, you can see a steady trend of an increase in sales and profit. As the chart moves well into 2018, you can see a significant drop almost overnight (even though it was about 20 days in the making).
Just like that, a 4% decrease in stock value has hit Games Workshop.
The question is, what’s next for the future of Games Workshop? Will stock value go up as more people jump on board of what was just sold? Or will it continue to drop despite new releases and efforts to the company?
If the latter happens, the bigger question may be what will GW stop supporting hobby wise to help keep costs under control going into 2019?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
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Bio: Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4.
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