Games Workshop’s remarkable run of success continues, as the Warhammer 40,000 maker’s sales smashed expectations yet again over the summer.
Revenue rose by 16.5% year-on-year to £127 million, and profit rocketed by 46% to £57 million as customers spent more on indoor hobbies during the summer washout.
Games Workshop said the rise was “driven by healthy growth across all channels” as it launched the 10th edition “Leviathan” Warhammer 40,000 set.
“The board recognises that this performance is better than the prior year but is also aware that it is still early in the financial year,” the business added.
Jefferies analysts Andrew Wade and Grace Gilberg said: “While upgrades have been very much anticipated by the market, this Q1 beat is more than we could have expected.”
The shares gained another 1,119p to 11,509p, almost 80 times their price in 2008 and valuing the business at £3.7 billion.
Shareholders will also receive a further 50p dividend, as the board cited a policy of handing back “truly surplus cash”, bringing the amount returned so far this year to £1.95.
The Nottingham-based business’ flagship Warhammer 40,000 board game — set in a distant future where aliens, humans and fantasy monsters do battle — is famed for its pricey figurine sets. Forum posts suggest that buying very basic armies for two beginners, plus a rulebook, directly from Games Workshop would have cost around £175 in 2008.
Spending that money on the shares instead would have returned around £26,000, including dividends. That’s enough to buy a custom-painted 1997 OOP Metal Thunderhawk, which became the most expensive Warhammer kit in history when it sold for £25,600 on eBay in 2021.
