Watching stocks over the short-term is often an experiment in futility; on Nov 5th 2015 we looked back at the state of Games Workshop’s stock price and general financial health.

We are coming to the end of the line for GW as they holidays approach not much will be reported in the way news or information that could dramatically change their stock price. Only a major global event could change the mild ups and downs of GW stocks. What is important though is the upcoming half yearly report scheduled for January 12th 2016. We shall see if the one two combo of Age of Sigmar and Betrayal of Calth had any effect on the bottom line, it does though seem like GW has given us a hint to the answer.

In the meantime, let us look at the stock as it heads into new year.

GW survived the typical retail of October-November stock bloodbath; as expectations are usually dampened, but GW is in a strong position heading through December

Here are those numbers.

As you can see GW is up an amazing 8% in the last month and continues an upward trend I didn’t think was possible.

How is the stock fairing though from this time to one year ago?

Beating past performances GW is up almost 12% for the year! This is actually pretty startling, but it is what happens sometimes when you lower expectations and then equal/beat them. Kevin Rountree so far seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and doesn’t make lunatic comments like his predecessor did. In reality, though the investor groups holding much of GW stock have large portfolios, and we will never know what exactly tickles their fancy when buying GW stock.

One major thing of note in the half yearly report announcement are these comments,

Games Workshop Group PLC announces that trading in the six months to 29 November 2015 at constant currency has been broadly in line with the Board’s expectations and 2014/15 first half performance.

Over the six month period we have seen modest sales growth at constant currency.   However, the adverse impact of a stronger pound will result in a small decline in reported sales for the period.

The currency blaming continues, but the cynic in me says Sigmar didn’t do as well as they hoped and this statement is hedging bets on the ace in the hole that is Betrayal of Calth. It is no surprise the release happened just in time to show on the half-yearly report sale figures.