Games Workshop released its financial statement for the fiscal year ending June 1st, and the over-all trend for the world’s leading miniatures maker is positive, after three straight years of declining sales (see “Games Workshop’s Sales Down Again”). Worldwide revenues rose slightly from £109.5 million in fiscal 2007 to £110.3 million in 2008.  Profitability also improved, from a £3.48 million loss in 2007 to a £740,000 loss in the 2008 fiscal year.  The company showed a profit of £446,000 without exceptional items. 

More Games Workshop hobby centers closed than opened worldwide, bringing world total to 334 in May, down from 348 a year ago. In North America, the tally was 76 stores in May, down from 82 a year ago, though GW stressed that they intended to increase the number of hobby centers going forward, concentrating on larger metropolitan areas.

Sales in the Americas were up £1.0 million in constant currency, an improvement attributed to the management of the U.S. business by Ernie Baker, who was given Canada as well as a result.  The Asia/Pacific region and UK also posted sales increases.  The biggest hit was in continental Europe, where sales dropped £4.7 million. Of the company’s five continental European regions, only Germany saw any growth, and sales to independent retailers were cited as the reason for the overall decline in the region.

Worldwide sales of GW products by independent retailers held steady from 2007 to 2008, accounting for 39% of total sales, while GW’s hobby centers lost a percentage point, dropping from 50% to 49%. The remaining 12% (11% in 2007) of sales were direct from GW to consumers. North American sales were nearly equal between independent hobby retailers and GW hobby centers.

Up for fiscal 2008 were GW’s specialist resin model business, Forge World (from £2.1 million to £2.7 million) and its publishing branch, BL Publishing (£2.2 million to £2.8 million).

The company also noted that its disposal of Sabertooth Games and subsequent licensing of its properties, along with its board game and RPG businesses, to Fantasy Flight Games (see “Fantasy Flight Gets Games Workshop’s RPGs, Board, and Card Games”), as part of its massive cost reduction program that began in May of 2007, helped improve its financial results.  Those discontinued operations lost £291,000 in fiscal 2007 and £1.2 million (mostly exceptional items) in fiscal 2008.  GW also reported a loss of £920,000 from a goodwill writedown related to the discontinued operation, which was probably the portion of the Sabertooth acquisition cost still on the balance sheet at the beginning of the period.