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GAME’s full year results are here, showing that the 2017-2018 year showed a rise of 1.9 per cent in the company’s Gross Transaction Value. In retail any such rise in sales is always welcome, though it was tempered by the gross profit rate contracting from 23 per cent to 21.6 per cent year-on-year. This resulted in gross profits falling to £196.2m down by 4.3 per cent year-on-year.
CEO Martyn Gibbs commented on this aspect of the figures: “The shift in the retail product mix towards the lower margin categories has impacted on the gross profit rate but we continue to focus on improving margins by product category and driving high margin revenue streams whilst reducing the operating cost base of the Group.”
Operating costs of the business, with many store leases renegotiated, fell by an impressive £11.4m, on which Gibbs commented: “We continue to take advantage of our flexible lease profile to renegotiate leases, relocate or close stores. In addition, store operating efficiencies, procurement benefits and a reorganisation of our head office have also realised further savings this year.”
Speaking on the business’ wider startegic goals, Gibbs said: “Despite the challenges facing our core retail business and the difficult wider retail environment, we are making good progress on our strategic initiatives to ensure we continue to meet the needs of gamers, our customers and our supplier partners as we transform our business to become a leading provider of gaming experiences and services.”
Income from Events and Esports rose impressively to 40.2 per cent to £12.2m. With losses from esports, events and digital falling by 65 per cent, from £6m to 2.1m, during this continued period of Investment in these high-margin areas.
“BELONG, the Group’s esports and experience-based gaming proposition, remains core to our transformation strategy and we continue to expand the business through the opening of larger BELONG gaming arenas while improving our GAME Retail offer to fully capitalise on the strong growth potential in the esports market. The first of these larger BELONG arenas has opened and trading results to date are promising. Planning for the further rollout of arena locations is well advanced.”
