Games Workshop (GAW) may have revealed record sales and profit growth during the six months ended 2 December 2018, but that doesn’t mean these numbers were perfect. Despite reporting growth across all channels - retail, trade and online – sales generated via the latter fell, compared with a decent sales acceleration across retail stores and the trade division. But even at the retail segment, Australia and New Zealand struggled to show signs of growth, and bosses admit that recruiting new store managers “remains a key area of focus” to retain existing customers and re-recruit lapsed ones.
Elsewhere, internal investments in capacity expansion and a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system held back cash generation year-on-year – as well as leading to a £21.3m rise in average capital employed – although the half-year dividend still rose from 61p to 65p a share. That said, the group did finish the period in a net cash position, which should help support near-term investment plans as well as future shareholder returns.
Analysts at Peel Hunt expect adjusted pre-tax profits of £68m for the year ending May 2019, giving EPS of 169p, compared with £74.5m and 182p in FY2018.
| GAMES WORKSHOP (GAW) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 3,145p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 1.02bn | |
| TOUCH: | 3,145-3,150p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 4,060p | LOW: 2,050p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.1% | PE RATIO: | 17 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 313p | NET CASH: | £25.3m | |
| Half-year to 2 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2017 | 110 | 38.1 | 96.0 | 61.0 |
| 2018 | 125 | 40.8 | 101 | 65.0 |
| % change | +14 | +7 | +5 | +7 |
| Ex-div: | * | |||
| Payment: | * | |||
| *Dividends paid quarterly. Next 25p instalment due to be paid on 1 March 2019 (ex-div: 24 Jan) | ||||
