Games Workshop 2022-2023 Financials

Games Workshop checks in with their biggest year EVER, with record revenue, profits, and dividends.

via GW Investor Relations

We’re keeping this one pretty high level, if you want to do your own number crunching check the links below:

Annual Report 2023 (Full Report)

Some Top Level Numbers: (2022 vs 2023)

Revenue: +15.2%
Operating Profit +8.2%
Earnings per share: +4.6%

Sales Channel Reports

Percent of Sales Per Channel
Retail: 24%
Trade Sales: 56%
Online (web store): 20%

Growth Percent of Sales Per Segment Constant Currency (2022-2023)
Retail: +16%
Trade Sales: +9.3%
Online (web store): +3%

Excerpts from the Chair:

“Games Workshop is a great company – so it is an absolute privilege to be writing my first statement as non-executive chair, having been appointed to the role in January 2023.

The reason Games Workshop is great is that it is run with principles and has a culture and values which, when applied by good people who align to these principles and behaviours, can deliver great performance.

This formula is clearly working as I’m delighted to report that Kevin Rountree and his team have delivered another outstanding year with core revenue and profits, and dividends all at record levels.”

Strategic Report

“Strategy and objectives

Games Workshop is committed to the continuous development of our intellectual property (‘IP’) and making the Warhammer hobby and our business ever better.

Our ambitions remain clear: to make the best fantasy miniatures in the world, to engage and inspire our customers, and to sell our products globally at a profit. We intend to do this forever. Our decisions are focused on long-term success, not short-term gains.

Let me go through our strategy part-by-part:

The first element is that we make high quality miniatures. We understand that what we make may not appeal to everyone, so to recruit and retain customers we are absolutely focused on making our models the best in the world. In order to continue to do that forever and to deliver a decent return to our owners, we sell our miniatures for a price that we believe represents the investment in their quality.

The second element is that we make fantasy miniatures based in our endless, imaginary worlds. This gives us control over the imagery and styles we use, and ownership of the IP. Aside from our core business, we are constantly looking to grow our licensing income from opportunities to use our IP in other markets.

The third element is that we are customer focused. We aim to communicate in an open, fun way. Whoever and wherever our customers are, and in whichever way they want to engage with Warhammer, we will do our utmost to support them.

The fourth element is the global nature of our business. Our customers can be found anywhere, and we seek them out all over the world. They’re a passionate bunch with an interest in science fiction and fantasy. They’re collectors, painters, model builders, gamers, book lovers and much more. And while no two customers engage with Warhammer in exactly the same way, they’re all deeply invested in the rich characters and settings of our IP.”

“Business model and structure

We are a vertically integrated business. We design, manufacture, distribute and sell our fantasy miniatures and related products. These are fantasy miniatures from our own Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar universes. We are an international business centrally run from our HQ in Nottingham, with 78% of our sales coming from outside the UK. We have our two main factories, a paint factory, two warehouse facilities, design studios and back office support functions – all are based in or near Nottingham.”

“Review of the period

Another record year for Games Workshop – the business and the Warhammer hobby are in great shape.

It has been another exciting year. After a relatively slow start for us, we finally got into our rhythm and have delivered profitable sales growth in all of our three channels, and in all major countries (excluding Russia, where we stopped selling in March 2022). It was great to see the team effort in the second half focused on executing our operational plan rather than allowing ourselves, at times, to get distracted by external events out of our control. There were lots of details to get right everywhere and, as always, the global team has delivered again. We have controlled our costs well and improved our gross profit and as a result our cash flow has been great; allowing us to return £136.5 million to our owners during the period. Our staff have once again been amazing; thank you and well done to you all.

Our operational plan is designed to give us the best chance to succeed every month so it was rewarding to see us finish the period with seven months of consecutive Group core revenue growth against the prior period. Core revenue growth for the period at constant currency finished Retail +16.9%, Trade +9.3% and Online +3.0%.

…Morale at Games Workshop is upbeat: we are doing OK but inflation and the related higher interest rates are clearly an ongoing concern for most of our staff. During the period, we continued to look at relevant ways to support our staff. We have increased pay across the Group by on average 4.9% (supporting fully the increase in UK national living wage to £11 per hour) and following a review of our family leave entitlement, our maternity and adoption leave entitlement has increased from 6 weeks to 18 weeks at full pay. Paternity leave will increase from 1 to 2 weeks at full pay. We will continue to keep staff benefits under review.

In line with our Group Profit Share Scheme, and for their outstanding contribution to these results, we have paid each member of staff £4,000 this period (2022: £3,500), in total £11.6 million (2022: £9.9 million).”

“Customer focused

My Warhammer
This single login gives access to our webstores and related apps. As at the period end, we have 427,000 active users. To better track engagement we have defined an active user as someone who has engaged with us online in the last six months.

Warhammer+
Our subscription service for Warhammer fans is approaching its second year. It is a new way to explore the worlds of Warhammer. You’ll find original animations and shows, access to Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar apps, a digital vault archive packed with decades of lore and magazines, subscriber offers, and exclusive miniatures.

The exciting content delivered through Warhammer+ will remain an integral part of our digital offer and how we share our IP. Subscriber numbers are currently 136,000 (2022: 105,000).”