Press releases
The GAME Group plc - AGM trading statement
03/07/2002
The GAME Group plc - Europe's leading specialist retailer of video games and computer software, reported like for like sales growth of 34% for the first 22 weeks of the year to 29 June including strong growth throughout the World Cup.
At the Annual General Meeting held today, the Chairman, Peter Lewis, gave the following update to shareholders:
"Your Group continues to grow, in the first 12 weeks of our current year to 20 April I reported like for like sales growth of 26%. In the 22 weeks to 29 June this accelerated to 34% which compares with a like for like increase at the same time last year of 19%. Despite the appeal of the World Cup to a significant part of our customer base, your Group was largely unaffected by this event recording strong like for like sales in June.
The new Spanish and French businesses are performing well with sales growth in line with our UK stores.
The re-brand project which was announced earlier this year is progressing well with over two thirds of the standalone stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland already trading under the core GAME brand and your Group is well on course to complete the project prior to the Christmas selling season.
We have added 11 new stores in the first half, with our 400th store opening last week, and we are confident of achieving our opening target of in excess of 50 stores in the current financial year.
We have benefited from the very successful launch of Game Cube in May with demand outstripping available supply. The re-pricing of Microsoft XBox in April has had a positive impact and PlayStation 2 has continued to power ahead supported by many new software releases including Medal of Honor - Frontline, Final Fantasy X and 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Your Board remains of the view expressed in the Annual Report that this will be another year of significant progress".
For further information please contact:
The GAME Group plc Tel: 01344 464040
John Steinbrecher - Chief Executive
Martin Long, Deputy Chief Executive & Chief Financial Officer
Financial Dynamics Tel: 0207 831 3113
Nic Bennett/Ben Foster/Charlie Armistead
Note:
At the Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings held today all resolutions were passed.
