Video games retailer GAME Digital Plc, which was floated on the London stock market in June of this year, has reported a full-year profit versus a loss last year, owing to an increase in Xbox One and PlayStation 4 sales.
Game Digital was created in 2012 off the back of UK-listed Game Group, which went into administration in competition with online rivals before being bought by Jackson‘s private equity firm OpCapita.
Now Retail Gazette can report that revenue was up 31% to £861.8m year-on-year while gross profit climbed 20.5% to £209.7m.
Operating profit reached £24.8m, a massive improvement on last year‘s £3.3m loss.
The retailer now has market share in both the UK and Spain. Through its Reward Card loyalty scheme, GAME has attracted over 1 million new customers.
Of the growth, CEO Martyn Gibbs said: “As we move into the key trading months of the year we are encouraged by the strength of the line-up of new physical and digital games being launched and are well positioned, with exclusives secured on many of the major pre-Christmas new game releases, great deals on both mint and pre-owned, increased supplier credit, and financing facilities in place in both the UK and Spain.”
Chairman David Hamid adds:
“GAME has delivered a strong performance in what has been a transformational year for the company, which included our successful IPO in June,” chairman David Hamid said. “We are a dynamic and well-funded company with a strong platform from which to build and drive further growth and profitability.”
Despite the popularity of gaming apps like Candy Crush and Angry Birds, there is still a high demand for console games. While smartphones and tablets give gamers the opportunity to pass time on their commute, the graphics and attention to detail available on computer and video games is unrivalled. For the video games retailer, they key is gaming franchises including Call of Duty and Destiny, which attracts extensive queues of fans upon release.
2013‘s Grand Theft Auto V generated $800m (approximately £49m ) worldwide on its first day last September, a hugely successful video game debut. With just over a month until the action-adventure game is scheduled to be released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the future still looks bright for GAME.
