• Financial information
• Share information
• Calendar
• Press releases
• Regulatory news
• Reports and presentations
• AGM
• Corporate governance
• Shareholder services
• Contacts and advisors

Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 January 2008

29/04/2008

Year ended 31 January £ millions (unless stated)	2008	2007
Sales	1,491.9	801.3
Like for like sales %	41.2	16.2
Gross margin %	24.8	27.2
Operating profit (before non-recurring costs)*	82.3	33.0
Operating profit	75.2	33.0
Profit before taxation (before non-recurring costs)*	75.5	29.5
Profit before taxation	68.4	29.5
Full year dividend	4.40p	2.93p
Basic earnings per share	13.79p	6.25p
Earnings per share before non-recurring costs*	15.88p	6.25p
Trading store numbers (inc. Franchises)	1,161	817
Trading square footage (000s)	1,170	875

* There are non-recurring costs of £7.1m relating to the acquisition of Gamestation

Operational and Financial Highlights

• Excellent sales performance with total sales growth of 86% and like for like (‘lfl') sales up by 41.2%
• Record profit before tax and non-recurring costs of £75.5m, an increase of 156% on last year
• Final dividend increased by 79% to 2.97p (2007: 1.66p) resulting in the full year dividend up 50% to 4.40p (2007: 2.93p)
• Continued expansion in overseas territories – opened a net 116 new stores in four territories bringing total international stores to 512 including franchises. International operating profits more than doubled to £13.2m from £6.1m.
• Strong growth in our eCommerce businesses with turnover and operating profits up by 147% and 61% respectively.
• Successful acquisition of Gamestation's 217 store chain, bringing total number of stores in UK to 649.
• Ongoing benefit from the unprecedented range of formats available, with the Nintendo Wii and DS Lite in particular broadening the appeal of video games

Current Trading and Outlook – FY 2008/9

• Strong current trading, with Group lfl sales up by 20.1% in the 13 weeks to 26 April, despite the Playstation 3 having launched in the comparative period last year
• Sales continue to be strong on all formats, with supply improving on the Nintendo Wii
• Gross margin expected to improve by 50 to 100 basis points driven by purchasing synergies and a slightly reduced hardware participation in the sales mix
• The integration of Gamestation will result in revenue and cost synergies in the current financial year of around £7m
• Around 100 store openings planned this year, with key focus on France, Spain and Australia
• Continued growth and development of our eCommerce proposition

Peter Lewis, Chairman, commented:-
"This is a record set of results and clearly demonstrates that we've taken the right steps to expand the scale and geographic reach of our specialist offer to benefit from the broadening appeal of pc and video games products.

This performance marks a transformational year with a significant improvement in a number of core business operations, further enhanced by the acquisition of Gamestation in the UK. In addition we more than doubled international operating profits and increased eCommerce operating profits by over 60%, both of which continue to be a focus for growth.

The unprecedented range of popular products has broadened the demographic appeal to new customers of all generations. It has also favourably altered the short and medium term outlook for our industry. With a large and growing installed base of hardware in the market, a strong line-up of new software launches and the benefits of full year ownership of Gamestation in prospect, the Board remains very confident in the outlook for the 53 weeks to 31 January 2009."

A presentation to investors and analysts will be held today at 9.30am (BST) at The Lincoln Centre, 18 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3ED.

A live webcast of the presentation to analysts will be available on the Company's website at www.gamegroup.plc.uk from 9.30am (BST) today and will be available to view on demand from approximately 2.00pm (BST).

An interview with Lisa Morgan, Chief Executive will be available from 7.00am (BST) on www.gamegroup.plc.uk and on www.cantos.com.

Enquiries:

The GAME Group plc	Lisa Morgan Group Chief Executive	+44 (0)1256 784050
	David Thomas Deputy CEO & Group Finance Director	+44 (0)1256 784085
	Simon Soffe Head of Investor Relations and Group Communications	+44 (0)1256 784162
Brunswick	Jonathan Glass Wendel Verbeek Ash Spiegelberg	+44 (0)20 7404 5959

www.gamegroup.plc.uk

View the full press release in PDF format.

Back to press releases for 2008

Top of page

Customers