Games’ sales retreat
FANTASY war games retailer Games Workshop suffered a sales retreat after it cut back on staff in its hobby centres.
The company, which makes collectable figurines for Warhammer and Lord Of The Rings battle games, said staffing changes led to shortfalls in its Northern Europe division, which includes the UK.
Chief executive Mark Wells said the emphasis was now on “customer service training” to drive sales growth.
The company, which has 380 outlets worldwide and also sells products through nearly 4,000 independent toy shops, reported sales down 4 per cent to £60million in the six months to the end of November. Pre-tax profits dived 15 per cent to £6.7million in line with a warning earlier this month.
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It has closed a Shanghai factory to focus on the production of its models at its Nottingham factory where efficiency gains helped offset higher raw material and distribution costs.
The board remained “confident in the future growth and profitability”.
Its shares, which rocketed from 171p two years ago to 425p at Christmas, rose 7½ p to 357½p.
