"Games Workshop to appear in the FTSE 100" Topic

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Yet more evidence that Games Workshop products are outrageously overpriced, poorly managed, and bound to go out of business at any moment!! As it has been for thirty years! It's bound to happen at any moment! THE END IS NEAR!!!

Sounds like they need to raise prices again.

Wait a month or two, 79th. Gonk, remember your de Camp: "It does not pay a prophet to be too specific."

Wow.

Who, browsing around the D&D fanzines in Dalling Road, would have ever predicted it.

The new LOTR stuff will doubtless give them a boost!

new LOTR stuff will doubtless give them a boost!

I think it depends how the movie does. If it's a RoP laughing stock then probably not.

they need to raise prices again.

I think they do. The fact that so many can afford a pile of shame tells me they can do with a price hike. The 40K groups have new blood from Space Marine II and almost to person it's "I want to start" to (step 2) I bought these boxes for my army! 🤦‍♂️

Winston Smith learned to love Big Brother.

GW, being a publicly traded company, is required to make available its annual and quarterly financial statements. I've been following its performance for a number of years. Because most figure and paint manufacturers are privately held, I've no way of proving this, but I'm convinced GW posts a bottom line (EBIT) greater than all other manufacturers combined.

But what is truly remarkable about GW is its net profit margin. 2024 revenue totaled 526 million GBP (668 million USD). Net profits (pre-tax) totaled 203 million GBP (258 million USD). That's a net profit margin of 39%. In other words, almost 40% of the price you just paid for that figure/paint/ruleset you just purchased is net profit to Games Workshop.

More power to them. If people keep paying for what they put out. GW will have earned it.

They make good stuff that many people want to buy due in no small part to excellent marketing and clever use of social media.

Remember – value is in the eye of the beholder.

CFeicht has the right of it. Plus their eye candy is effing delicious. Their painted stuff makes me want to paint stuff and defend the galaxy. And I don't even play 40K.

39% is an embarrassingly low margin.

They can raise their prices all they want. I don't buy their stuff or have any use for them

Dear me, they must have very bad accountants. They need to get those profits down to zero at once to avoid paying any tax, loading up with debt should do the job nicely.

GW prices and actions do not directly affect me, since I do not stock their products. It does affect me indirectly since some other small companies justify raising their prices because GW did.

I remember shopping there when it was one shop in Hammersmith.

Valued at 4 billion GBP – I wonder how much is from me?

I once bought a pot of red paint from a GW shop.

It was quite good.

They had a plain black which dried semi-gloss which I really liked.

Really, Parzival? A 39% profit margin is huge.

39% is a substantial margin. If you can cover all other costs,labor, manufacturing, shipping and walk with 39% pure, then you are doing something reasonably right…probably why they made a very smart move in controlling as much of their fabrication basis as possible like buying the plastics manufacturers outright, etc. Given the scale, 39% is phenomenal.

Most car manufacturers are lucky to get 20% and most do far less just for comparison. Grocery stores are often so razor thin as to be invisible.

Lot of respect for them as a business. Like many other companies they were given COVID grants from the UK government to help them survive as a business during the pandemic. They paid the money back (they had no obligation to, shaming other companies who had done 'well' out of lockdown), and gave their staff a bonus as a thank you, for all their work during lockdown.

Looking after your staff, seemingly a novelty these days.

They're also investing in manufacturing in the UK rather than outsourcing to China. They're building a new production centre on their very large estate.

I do remember the days of Dalling Road, queuing up for the opening of their second store in Manchester.

Warhammer not my thing (I was a D&D and Traveller player BITD), I wish them well.

(I was a D&D and Traveller player BITD)

What's with the past tense -- you're still alive, aren't you?

Past tense? The books are still on the shelf, haven't been opened in years I'm afraid

I believe that I have some GW stock in a retirement account, so I'm happy for them to make FTSE 100.

GW may make overpriced miniatures that they constantly make obsolete with rule changes, and I'm sure Warhammer players have things to say about that.

As a Traveller and StarGrunt player and referee, however, I can say that GW has helped develop a good market for second-hand miniatures. I myself have unused GW items that I acquired at prices ranging from free to cheap that work very well in my (classic era mostly canonical) Traveller universe.

So I hope GW sticks to its business model, which I find beneficial.