An August trading statement risked giving the game away ahead of full-year results from Game Digital (GMD), due on Thursday 15 October. Management trumpeted the video games retailer's shift towards offering digital content and organising live events rather than selling low-margin hardware, but to no avail - the group's shares have slid by about a fifth this year. Investors will hope next week's results prove the group's troubled past is well and truly behind it.
Price cuts to gaming consoles drove Game Digital's first-half hardware sales down 19 per cent. But strip those out and gross profit rose 9 per cent, driven by a 16 per cent rise in digital sales. Moreover, management has attracted 550,000 customers to GAME Wallet, the group's electronic payments platform, in less than a year. And recently acquired Multiplay inked a three-year deal to host its flagship Insomnia gaming festival at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
Broker Liberum forecasts EPS of 17.4p this financial year, rising to 21.4p in the year to July 2016.
