Warhammer creator Games Workshop Group (GB:GAW) has announced a £10 million bonus for staff as it prepares to announce another rise in earnings and sales next month.
The tabletop games company saw sales boom during coronavirus lockdowns as people turned to indoor hobbies.
Games Workshop currently has a ‘neutral’ Smart Score on TipRanks, scoring six, but was listed as one of Motley Fool’s ‘British shares to buy’ this year.
Games Workshop Group is to post its annual results on 25 July.
The Group said in a statement, “Games Workshop is pleased to announce that for the year to 29 May 2022, we estimate the Group’s core revenue to be not less than £385 million and royalties receivable of £28 million. The Group’s profit before tax is estimated to be not less than £155 million.”
That compares with £151 million in revenue, £16 million in royalties and profit of £151 million in 2021/2021.
The company’s Warhammer games are played widely, and have also inspired dozens of spin-off videogames and hundreds of novels.
£10 million for all staff
The company also announced that it would pay staff a bonus totalling £10 million.
The company said in a statement, “As in the prior year, in recognition of our staff’s contribution to these results, we have paid during the year profit share cash payments amounting in total to £10 million.”
Dividends remained the same as the previous year, with £77 million declared at 235 pence per share.
Tipranks Dividend History shows a yield of 0.97% and dividend growth over the past nine months.
The company’s sales boomed thanks to a resurgence in hobbies due to coronavirus lockdowns. #
Lockdown winner?
Chief executive Kevin Rountree has overseen a turnaround at the company where sales have risen after Rountree rebuilt the company’s relationships with fans, who had previously seen Games Workshop as overly concerned with protecting its intellectual property.
Russ Mould, Investment Director at AJ Bell, commented to Shares magazine: “There have been growing fears that Games Workshop sat in the “lockdown winners” category and a return to more normal life would see a drop-off in sales as people put down their paint brushes and returned to the great outdoors during their spare time.
“Its year-end trading update would suggest that decorating goblins and trolls is still a major pastime for a lot of people, with both sales and profit ahead of the previous year.”
The stock was given a ‘Bullish’ ranking by financial blogger Dan Appleby.
