"Games Workshop's new annual report is out" Topic

See here for results June 2013 through June 2014.

PDF link

Everything has dropped across the board, though not quite as bad as some predicted, but still pretty bad if you consider the advent of the new website they trumpeted as well as the launch of a new edition of 40k.

It doesn't seem like the launch of a new edition of 40K on May 24th could really have had that big of an impact on the company by June 1st.

Overall generating *only* 123,500,000 quid in a year would be a problem that any other miniature gaming company would love to have.

Interesting.

DM

"There is no fifth element which is a shame as it would have allowed me to indulge in a lot of movie jokes and references"

Apparently… because the Fifth Element is the Human element and it needs love. GW has no love.

Encouraging numbers.

I blame the Taurox.

Interesting, thanks for posting.

I don't see any reason for panic. I would hate to own the stock though, because it's earnings weren't very good last year!

Any "good" accountant can make the numbers say anything …

I was mostly shocked at the tone of the preamble, it did not seem very professional.

-Will

I love this Part:

"The new web store allows us to sell online more efficiently. It cost around £4.00 GBP million."

£4.00 GBP million for a webstore !?!!?

The cost of the new website is much-discussed on warseer and other forums. Almost everyone is aghast at the cost, given that thh new site is so barebones and that there was no migration of customer databases.

I see price hikes coming.

the price tag for the new website and store isn't stupid expensive, I've worked on projects similar in cost.

So:

Earnings are down

Earnings per share are down

But GW has had a really good year.

I think someone is lying.

Oh and here is a take of the CEO's preamble.

link

Far more to the truth than what Kirby wrote.

Sounds like time for a new rules upgrade, and multiple price increases, across the board…….

I don't really play GW games, but it sometimes seems that they are living proof of the adage 'popularity breeds contempt.'

I said, ‘we recruit for attitude and not for skill'. It is what makes us great.

Of course, when the attitude is as bad as GW Corporate's and the "skill" turns out garbage like the Taurox and Marines who are completely wallpapered with purity seals…

Seriously, though, it sounds like there was a major bloodletting at GW, across all the levels. One-man shops? How long will that last? They would be better going back to working cooperatively with indie stores; let the FLGS owner eat the costs of real estate and staff and push GW product as best fits the local scene.

I haven't spent a nickel on GW products since their disgusting attempted rebranding of all tabletop wargaming as "The Games Workshop Hobby".

Put those marketing guys up against the wall and blindfold them !!

Excellent. It's a long time since we didn't have such an excellent explanation to show to young people how capitalism destroys eveything they like! :)

One-man shops? How long will that last?

Oh about as long as it takes for GW to get rid of them.

Or until they invent Roboshop.

Loved the comments about how 3D printer will not take away their market share. Has this man never heard of Moore's Law? IBM made the mistake in the 1970's not to invest in the personal computer market. They thought that no one would want a personal computer. Oh here I am communicating with all of you on a personal computer with gigabytes of memory! Technology is currently at a rate of 6 months or less for obsolescence. It was only about two years ago I was reading about 3D printing in an issue of The Economist and it featured a Stradivarius Violin that had been printed, assembled and played beautifully. Now 3D Printing has become ubiquitous and there are adds all the time for getting your personal designs created using 3D printing. In two years it is already a booming business and will only become stronger as creative and innovative persons find new ways to improve the technology. Maybe folks will not want personal 3D printers but I would not want to take that as a bet.

I've bought 3D prints. They're already competitive with spin-castings and they're only getting better and cheaper. I have little doubt that the declining profits seen on the attached sheet are only the tip of the iceberg and that the hobby will be better supported with more interesting materials when the memetic mass of the dying giant has been reabsorbed by the ecosystem and distributed to young, vibrant, innovative companies.

Nicely said SymphonicPoet, kallman, and Mako11….
Sadly, I think we will not see any real change for several years, particularly if the 'boutique' pricing model of the miniatures gaming hobby in general is not challenged.
Oh well.

What we will see is the price of GW's models, and Army/Codex books go up.

I expect that the Army/Codex books will be nearly be $100 USD within a few short years if not sooner.

I worked for 13+ years for a very large multi-national company that had a similar outlook on it's business.

We used to joke that the CEO's approach to business was:

"Batten down the hatches …. full steam ahead!"

"Don't confuse me with the facts my mind already made up!"

Ah what fun we had making great, reliable, well engineered products & millions of £'s. Sad to say the company went down the pan – taken over..sorry "merged" with the French competition

Excuse me for a moment while I put on my Devil's Advocate horns…
(sounds of suction cups being attached to forehead)

Just something I have to point out: yes, their profits are down from last year. They made 12.4 MILLION UK pounds.

If a so-called 'real' wargame company made a TENTH of that annually, they'd be dancing in the streets.

The issues are that GW's profits for the last couple of years have almost solely been reliant on slashing of costs and price increases, while actual sales volumes have been falling. You couple that with a huge retail store network that is extremely expensive as overhead costs yet drives the sales they have.

Those who has parsed the report believe, and I agree with them, that if sales continue their trajectory or even stay flat, they will be posting a net loss within 18 months. As a publicly-traded company, that could mean bad things may come from posting losses, including the breaking up and sale of the company. THAT is why people are either worried or fascinated, depending on their opinion of GW.

All I know is that, of their three shops in this state, two have departed their former cosy nests in major shopping centres to lower rent premises both much less visible and with much less passing trade, signaling to me that there is indeed a death spiral in progress. The high visibility shopping centre locations were their main source of new recruits. Without them business is bound to gradually dry up.

They made 12.4 MILLION UK pounds.

Sure and look now they did it.

Increased prices on their models.

Increased prices on their Army Books/Codex's

Laying off workers & Closing Stores

Yup, all signs of a company that is doing well.

Finecast Resin models are gone.

Which by the way is the best decision that they have made in the last 18 years.

Still say they're going to go to paper standup models…. ;-)

I expect them to go virtual.

Charge you to buy each of the units/models but not have to actually provide anything to you.

According to a post in the News and Rumors section from Dakkadakka, Tom Kirby is now out of GW.

Okay but the damage that he has done while there just might not be uncoverable.

quote "Still say they're going to go to paper standup models…. ;-)"

But they must be printed with quality Citadel Inks and Official Papers.

This is a CEO's statement to his shareholders? I've never read anything like this where the CEO appears to spend the whole time defending his decisions & the current financial situation. In addition, I would've thought this was written by a 20-something wanna-be, rather than the leadership of a $200 USD million company. It appears the whole "we hire for attitude, not for skill" started with Kirby himself. This explains A LOT about what has happened at GW over the past few years.

When it comes to downsizing, I bet the last thing that gets cut at GW will be the legal staff. On a per-hour basis, that would probably be equal to 10 or more regular employees…. ;-)

This explains A LOT about what has happened at GW over the past few years.

Actually for nearly 15 years.

When it comes to downsizing, I bet the last thing that gets cut at GW will be the legal staff. On a per-hour basis, that would probably be equal to 10 or more regular employees…

Hmm, maybe not after the ass kicking they got from the Chapterhouse lawsuit.