Games Workshop stuck to its promise of delivering all surplus capital with a hefty dividend hike last year, and with the streamlined business now throwing off cash its shareholders have plenty to look forward to.
Cash generated from operations rose 9 per cent to £28m, well ahead of operating profits of £19.1m and testament to the hard work the hobby specialist has put into restructuring the business over the past two years. Last year saw the continued rollout of programmes designed to improve standards of customer service in its hobby centres, including a new process for recruiting high quality centre managers.
A raft of new product launches, not least a major revamp of its Citadel paints range, and the opening of further one man hobby centres including first stores in China and Poland, meant the business returned to volume growth last year. Royalty income was also up 44 per cent to £3.5m thanks to the success of THQ's Space Marines video game, while Games Workshop pointed to an exciting product pipeline for the coming year, culminating in a new Hobbit range to be launched alongside the major film release in December.
Broker Peel Hunt expects underlying pre-tax profits of £21m and EPS of 47.2p in the year to May 2013 (from £19.5m and 44.9p last year).
GAMES WORKSHOP GROUP (GAW) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 588p | MARKET VALUE: | £186m | |
| TOUCH: | 580-595p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 591p | LOW: 405p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 10.7% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 154p | NET CASH: | £17.4m | |
| Year to 3 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 110 | 1.1 | -2.4 | nil |
| 2009 | 126 | 7.5 | 17.6 | nil |
| 2010 | 127 | 16.1 | 48.4 | 25.0 |
| 2011 | 123 | 15.3 | 36.0 | 45.0 |
| 2012 | 131 | 19.5 | 46.8 | 63.0 |
| % change | +6 | +27 | +30 | +40 |
Ex-div: tbc Payment: tbc | ||||
