# Gw shares rise 30%



## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

Just in case anyone's interested in this sort of thing (or in where your monies are going :wink: )

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/afb932a0-fade-11de-94d8-00144feab49a.html



> Shares in Games Workshop, the model figurine manufacturer and retailer, rose 30 per cent on Wednesday when it announced that pre-tax profits would be more than 50 per cent higher than expectations.
> 
> The company increased its gross margins by rolling out one-man stores and promoting plastic rather than metal figurines. Sales remained steady.
> 
> ...


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## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

Good for them - nice to see them doing so well.

Also interesting to see the fairly small profit they actually make from the sales!


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## Starship Trooper (Dec 2, 2009)

wow. In this market and global economy this is vary impressive. I hope they are smart and do the right things with the unforeseen increased profit margins. Many companies squander this kind of surprise prosperity.


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Though it also demonstrates that they aren't passing on the plastic savings to the customer.


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## Marneus Calgar (Dec 5, 2007)

They won't reduce prices though...
The only reason the shares have gone up is 'cause since their price rise, most people have been going for the cheaper option . And buying more... Maybe


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## Starship Trooper (Dec 2, 2009)

Well just because they are doing better this year dose not mean that the long term picture is perfect... look at the long term performance over the last 5 years.

Name 1 Week	1 Month	6 Month	1 Year	*5 Year*
Games Workshop Group GAW:LSE	+27.20%	+18.88%	+25.20%	+78.15% *-63.17%*


I'm sure Games work shop would like to get back to where they once were. I wonder how bad buying the Lord of the Rings license hurt them? Also it would seem if they really wanted to be shrewd they would do like Magic the Gathering did and stomp out the second hand market by having a strict "tournament type" that forces players to constantly buy new models every year.


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## Khorothis (May 12, 2009)

I wonder if that means a new car for the chairman or more yummy stuff for us.


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## Crimson Shadow (Jan 15, 2009)

Hopefully with the increaserd profits, they can devote more time and resources to pushing out all the codexes that people are salivating for. (Dark Eldar, Inquisition, Necrons, Dark Angels, Blood Angels, etc). 

I know I'd like to see an updated Necron and Tau codex. Preferably with some new units for both. But that's just me.

Just realized my post could turn this into another thread about needing new codexes and let's bash space marines. Please don't.


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## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

Its nice to see that they more or less shocked the stock market, thats a good grade if anything 

Hopefully this means that GW regains a lot of trust from their shareholders and less pressure from them. I strongly suspect that all the SM releases are to do with that 5 year result, which indeed is damn poor. 

Another good sales year (this one, which seems cramped full of releases) and the financial thumb-screws should loose up a fair bit, which will allow for more chance-releases (this means low selling armies)


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

They have a good year and show 16% profit. Personally i think this means that their prices aren't all that unreasonable. Sure there are some anomalies but i think it indicates that a price cut would make things pretty tight.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Good on GW. I'm glad to see that they're doing well. One thing disturbed me a little though.



> The company, which has 370 stores in the UK, said when rents became too high it had been able to move locations without losing business because of its small but loyal customer base.
> 
> It also opened 10 stores with just one staff member each in the UK last year, which enabled it to open in smaller towns, nearer to its teenage fan base.


Ugh... this basically says that GW can move its stores around and not lose out because we love their product too much to stop buying from them. GW has a very tight grip on its fans and they appear to know it.


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## ChaosRedCorsairLord (Apr 17, 2009)

It's like trying to quit heroin.


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## dobbins (Sep 19, 2009)

ChaosRedCorsairLord said:


> It's like trying to quit heroin.


Maybe a slight exaggeration. I don't think the Priory are overrun by rock stars and socialites who can't shift their habit of wargaming.


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## Khorothis (May 12, 2009)

ChaosRedCorsairLord said:


> It's like trying to quit heroin.


Yup. 

And Katie, that attitude is perfectly normal. I remember when I was playing WoW some two years ago that a patch came out that did batshit crazy things, everyone was crying and raging about it, but after a week or so everyone got over it and played on. 40K is the same: we love the game so much that as long as they don't hit it with the nerfbat with a force greater than our addiction, we won't stop playing the game. This might not be the best of attitudes, but from a business standpoint it works like magic. I mean, look at WoW: its a grindfest and millions of people are playing it, even though it is an everyday event that some six year old comes up to on a Battleground you and kills you by hitting one or two keys like theres no tomorrow, and you know that the retard behind the screen is screaming with joy, just because he could kill you while you were busy fighting three other people without a healer. Does it suck? Yes. Is it successful? Yes. Does Blizzard get shitloads of money? Yes. Mission Accomplished.


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## Bubblematrix (Jun 4, 2009)

The thing you need to make sure you realise is that GW aren't that fussed about our kind of customers, they are re-organising their business to sell to the teenage market, and not to the kind of people who are reading websites on GW games.

Interesting you bring the wow thing Khorothis as was exactly the same move that GW is pulling, the teenage disposable income (mum and dads?) is a nice pie if you can get a slice of it. GW is just doing the sensible thing in this environment and going for nice stable sales. Yes they will need to concentrate on "hooking" new people as the teenage turnover of people is quite high - but as WoW proved, you can spill out a lot of shit and keep new people coming through, and best of all for GW they will make big money from the new players as starter players are the highest spenders (btw I left WoW after the said nerf bat incident - proving that there is something you can do - and that is leave ).

If GW still want to capitalise on our kind of customer however they should look to the likes of FW and their high end models to keep enough of the more discerning markets alive.

I think that their next likely moves if they intend to expand a little more would be to grow their online sales - as they target our kind of people, and to maybe get on with some organised leagues - they only thing being that these are much smaller markets in comparision to the teenage audience and require a lot more hassle.
The other way, and it seems like they are exploring this, is to license some boardgames to other manufacturers - this is little effort for them and will maybe engage an older audience.

These things said, it still doesn't mean I like that my local store was downsized, tho I didn't exactly support its sales by buying on the internet - which re-inforces why GWs shift to smaller stores and refocus on the larger teenage audience is probably a sound financial one.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

GW has nowhere to go but up
They still haven't even started breaching the rich asia markets. Admittedly that would be a long term goal but i can see it going fanatical in countries like india if it does happen

Gw are very lucky in their fan base is stable and ever growing so im not surprised to see a high percentage rise in share prices. I was very surprised by such a low percentage turnover suggesting GW prices aren't as outrageous as I thought it was. I was expecting much higher..I might stop complaining


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## ChaosRedCorsairLord (Apr 17, 2009)

> £7.5m on sales of £125.7m.


This is a pretty high percentage turnover. 5.96658711% isn't bad.



> In the U.S., for the period of December 2000 to November 2008, the average total non-farm seasonally adjusted monthly turnover rate was 3.3%.


Admittedly this is a monthly not yearly turnover, and is an average over 8 years. But from what I've seen and been told, a good percentage turnover is about 2.5% - 4.5%.

I'd say GW did pretty fucking well. I don't see why the price hike was necessary, but then again I'm no accountant. And now someone will come to defend GW, because a big multinational corporation needs defending from a lone Australian complainer.


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## Khorothis (May 12, 2009)

@Bubblematrix

I quit a few months before WotLK came out because being a PvP-loving player I didn't like the idea of getting killed by a gnomish Death Knight. I loved the Warcraft series because it had a great lore and the games were just badass. However, WoW isn't badass and it fucked the lore. But enough of off-topic stuff.

You pretty much said what I only implied, that GW is after mom's and dad's purse and is about to milk teenage retards as if they were real cows. Consequently, rules will get simpler, choices become fewer, and we'll end up with a game more retarded than WoW (which consist of W+Tab (targeting)+1+2+3 (various skills); those who push more buttons are called pros, and those who actually make full use of their class and play well are called cheaters and hackers). I just hope there'll be some love for us, the "older audience" (I feel so old having said that ).


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## Bubblematrix (Jun 4, 2009)

I dont think its all doom and gloom, the rules are pretty sorted now (i used to play 2nd ed) and so long as you accept the spacemuhreens problem is something you can ignore then the games will do fine. The re-emphasis will most likely just support the game, which leaves the non-target players to get on with what they have always done.

The positive side for us is that with all the kids buying up on a fad basis the secondary (ebay) market willl stay nice and fluid letting those who are prepared to wait out on new releases with their usual 30% off shop prices.


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

ahh good, now that there shares have gone up 30% they can use this as a brilliant reason to raise prices 30%, heck its GW, I wouldn't put it past them.

also quitting heroin is allot harder than quitting Gw, because heroin is actually affordable.


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## ENGARDE (Apr 4, 2009)

im not sure why i bother reading these threads, soooooo much hatred have you nothing in your lives better to hate that a company that has provided you with hours of endless enjoyment? Im glad GW is doing well, and i congradulate them and US (me included for spending so much on toys i MUST have lol) as for the debate over target markets, teens have disposable income it would be fatal not to target their audience, us older and more experienced players, make informed choices and carefully calculated purchases based on the few models we need having already acrued the bulk of our collection these new players have the money and the drive i bear no ill towards them for a smart business model.


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

what makes you think that all teens have disposable income?


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## ENGARDE (Apr 4, 2009)

Kale Hellas said:


> what makes you think that all teens have disposable income?


sorry its not my presumption that ALL have disposable income, i work in advertising and our marketing and research shows that teens TEND to have more money for entertainment and enjoyment etc as they generally dont have many bills or regular outgoing costs while still getting income from part time work, allowances.


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

ENGARDE said:


> im not sure why i bother reading these threads, soooooo much hatred have you nothing in your lives better to hate that a company that has provided you with hours of endless enjoyment?


because after 14yrs I've only had hours of enjoyment, and then its taken away.


ENGARDE said:


> sorry its not my presumption that ALL have disposable income, i work in advertising and our marketing and research shows that teens TEND to have more money for entertainment and enjoyment etc as they generally dont have many bills or regular outgoing costs while still getting income from part time work, allowances.


ahh research, code for "we have no idea of the truth so we'll just throw some numbers around and some big words then come up with answer comprising of the lengths of everyones schlongs times the number of people we measure with words randomly plucked from the dictionary"


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Just out of curiosity Stella, is there anything about Games Workshop that you do like?


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## Talos (Aug 4, 2008)

There must be something he likes from GW or why would he hang around a GW forum.
Glad to see that GW stocks are up. I had heard about these one man stores but never seen one. Has anybody been to one ? I would imagine it would be hard work for the one guy there to try and set up demo games as he would have to rush off to man the till.


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

The Sullen One said:


> Just out of curiosity Stella, is there anything about Games Workshop that you do like?


yes, all the stuff they get rid of and cease to support due to not being SPESS MAHREENS


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## ChaosRedCorsairLord (Apr 17, 2009)

Stella Cadente said:


> yes, all the stuff they get rid of and cease to support due to not being SPESS MAHREENS


Ah, another specialist gamer. I thought I was the last of an extinct species.


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## ENGARDE (Apr 4, 2009)

Stella Cadente said:


> because after 14yrs I've only had hours of enjoyment, and then its taken away.
> 
> ahh research, code for "we have no idea of the truth so we'll just throw some numbers around and some big words then come up with answer comprising of the lengths of everyones schlongs times the number of people we measure with words randomly plucked from the dictionary"


you truly are and angry and hateful person with little understanding of the real world, perhaps you have spent so much time in your room playing with yourself that feel the need to blame your sad pathetic life on GW and how they dont support YOUR specific needs, your definition of research is perhaps one of the most dim witted and ignorant ive had the pleasure of reading, its people like you who tarnish the reputation and enjoyment not only of the game but those members of the gaming community and help alienate us from the rest of society.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Stella Cadente said:


> yes, all the stuff they get rid of and cease to support due to not being SPESS MAHREENS


Hmm, maybe we should create a website entitled www.IwilldiebeforeIplaySpaceMarines.co.uk.(Despite graphic this site does not exist)

We could do nothing but spend our days whining about why we hate those damm Space Marines.

That said, Stella, mate, your a laugh everytime, never change.


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## Warlock in Training (Jun 10, 2008)

For all Stellas bitching I find that dark and loathing part of my mind agree. I am a negative person and prepare for the worst and hope for the best. In the end GW prices, not redoing old codexes fast enough, and horrible lack of options in the CSM dex is all I have to cry over. 

The biggest fear I have is GW going out of Buisness. The thought that a product I spend TONS of money on become worthless scares me a bit for futur buying.


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## Tequila Stuntman (Jan 6, 2010)

£7.5m on sales of £125.7m is just crap, especially as they produce there own stock.


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## Big Dave (Jun 13, 2008)

Tequila, a pretax net profit of 5.9% is actually pretty good, if you consider that many companies figure an after tax profit of 2% to be damn good. You have to figure that the amount of profit is figured after all expenses(salaries, rents, leases, maintence, benefits and other costs) are subtracted, £7.5m seems like a lot of $$ to me.


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## ChaosRedCorsairLord (Apr 17, 2009)

ENGARDE said:


> you truly are and angry and hateful person with little understanding of the real world, perhaps you have spent so much time in your room playing with yourself that feel the need to blame your sad pathetic life on GW and how they dont support YOUR specific needs, your definition of research is perhaps one of the most dim witted and ignorant ive had the pleasure of reading, its people like you who tarnish the reputation and enjoyment not only of the game but those members of the gaming community and help alienate us from the rest of society.


A) Insults are not a good idea on this forum.
B) GW is a big multinational company. I don't think they need your help defending themselves against a single person who complains on an online forum.
C) Stella is Heresy's 'Negative Nelly'. It's always a good idea to have both positive and negative opinions of topics.
D) Chill, they're only plastic models.



Big Dave said:


> Tequila, a pretax net profit of 5.9% is actually pretty good, if you consider that many companies figure an after tax profit of 2% to be damn good. You have to figure that the amount of profit is figured after all expenses(salaries, rents, leases, maintence, benefits and other costs) are subtracted, £7.5m seems like a lot of $$ to me.


I agree Big Dave. Here's an interesting fact: Telstra, Australia's main Telco that has profits in the billions, had a net profit of 5.3% in 2009. It was considered to have had an exceptionally good year. So I'd say 5.9% is pretty awesome. People seem to see £7.5m and think it's not alot. Keep in mind that's what they have left over to play around with/expand. It's enough to open quite a few new stores.

In Conclusion: GW is getting greedy, but what multinational company isn't greedy?


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## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

Tequila Stuntman said:


> £7.5m on sales of £125.7m is just crap, especially as they produce there own stock.


I bet that Tequila Stuntman sold his stock before Xmas:laugh:


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## khael (Jul 4, 2009)

ChaosRedCorsairLord said:


> D) Chill, they're only plastic models. QUOTE]
> 
> Dude, totally agree with Corsair Lord on this one. We all know corporations are greedy, because coporations are run by people and no matter how loudly hippies may protest the truth, people are greedy selfish bastards. All of us. Me especially. I don't think it does us much good to complain about the evils and iniquities of corporate greed, 'cause there just a big mirror for who we are on an individual level. (okay, I'm off my soapbox now) So, with that being said...
> 
> If you don't like it, don't buy it.


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