Games Workshop Annual Report 2012-2013.

The report can be found here:

http://investor.games-workshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Games-Workshop-Group-13-combined-FINAL-without-title-page.pdf

Well it seems that Games Workshop has had a good financial year. The past twelve months have seen the company become what many of us have been wanting for many years: an active participant in the hobby. Monthly releases, codexes, supplements etc etc. There can only be praise for the changes that have been made for GW.

Overall, the company has performed well. The Share holders are happy with an increased return on dividends, the customers are happy with the new approach and, most of all, the companies profit and cash revenue is up. This will likely drive the business strategists into keeping the drive of ingenuity a continuous process.

The only problem I have with the direction GW is taking is that the hobby stores are becoming less and less customer friendly (in my opinion). Reducing the number of staff down to one may be a great way in cutting costs but overall I believe it hurts the atmosphere of the store. Especially in Battle Bunkers. There is nothing more frustrating than having to leave the store for 45 minutes while the employee goes for dinner. I place no blame on him. He has as much say in the matter as we do. However, this has led to an enlarged option of alternative gaming venues. In Sydney, for example, there is a Good Games (Independent stores with plenty of Tables) located directly ABOVE GW. Most of the time the boys and I will still game downstairs (on Thursday game nights) but having the option of playing upstairs is greatly appreciated. Especially since Good Games is open till 11-12pm and sells food and drinks.

Anyway, onto the Financials:

Financials

Looks pretty good.

I'll leave most of the predictions and projection up to the business analysts as my field of expertise doesn't cover such areas. However, I will say one thing. If growth continues on it's current trend (and the analysts over at Reuters believe it will) then we should see GW continue with it's rapid releases.

CEO statement:

A few key points from Tom Kirby's statement that I thought were hilarious:

1. "The real danger is us."

2. "Our biggest risk is the people we employ."

3. "We have never found anyone who can deliver the quality we need at the price we pay."

4. "Risk of counterfeit products. The few that are made are of poor quality and do not appeal to our customers."

This I found amusing. Especially the point about counterfeit models. As CEO, Tom has to keep up the appearance that the evil re-casters produce wasteful products that are complete and utter rubbish. He isn't an idiot. He knows full well that the quality of some of the more illegitimate resin casters is, in most cases, very good. Cheap to. Of course generally speaking the recast trade only makes up a very small percentage of GW lost sales. Most people are terrified of putting any money near China and it is only a small few who actually do it. This is why he states that their biggest risk is their employees. A twelve year old kid isn't going to be rushing off to Alibaba or 4chan to find a way to get cheaper models. The GW employee will decide whether or not the person (and parents) will invest into the hobby. He is correct to worry about this. As some of us know, some red shirts can be frightfully oppressive in their management of a store.

That's my take on the report.

What do people think about GW's performance this year? Comment below.

Cheers