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| Still Treading Water |
I don't care enough about GW at this point to go into any sort of extensive analysis, but here's the gist of it:
- Profits would be up slightly, except that exchange rates pushed them into the red.
- But even at constant-currency, inflation means that they're still losing money.
- The retail arm is a net money loser now. Independent sales have surpassed it.
- Retail sales in North America are down a bit, but independent sales saw a decent gain.
- Australian sales fell by 18%
- Mail Order is up £547K, but they're still far from paying back the £6M the redesign cost.
- Royalties are sharply up.
- They're still paying more in dividends (which were reduced) than they're earning per share.
- Cash-on-hand is falling, but slow enough that they could go on for another 3-5 years at the present bleed rate without having to borrow.
- But they want everyone to know that they have enough financial strength to survive the year (um... ok).
- They're starting a 'trial' of 4 multi-man stores in some European cities (about damn time).
- Roundtree has added a "recruitment expert" to his management team to help find and keep store managers. Their turnover rate has been said to be 30%(!), and the company-wide salary freeze can't be helping.
- Word via the Guardian (thank you BoLS) is that they're re-branding their stores to simply "Warhammer" instead of "Games Workshop".
- Also via the Guardian: Their sales were way down at Christmas. Presumably because everyone was buying Star Wars stuff instead (Awe).
So you know, same old same old. GW hasn't blown up, but is still slowly bleeding out. Instead of focusing on product quality and diversification, they're obsessed with image and re-branding themselves.
C'est la stupide.
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| Pancakes and Halibut |