GAME Digital has recorded pre-tax profits of £22.5m for the 26 weeks to 23 January, down a staggering 32.2% from the previous year.
The group, which collapsed into administration just over three years ago, has been having an increasingly difficult time lately having issued two major profit warnings last year. But still, CEO Martyn Gibbs remains brave.
“Operating in the fast-paced video games industry continues to present both opportunities and challenges to our business,” commented Gibbs.
“Market dynamics in the UK were challenging during our peak trading period, although sales trends improved in the last week of December and first three weeks of January.
In January we launched a review of the UK business and are committed to rapidly implementing measures to respond to current market trends. As well as pursuing commercial opportunities we are focussed on driving improvements in the consumer proposition and realising operational efficiencies to improve our performance. In Spain the Group delivered another strong performance in the first half, with increased sales, profits and market share.
I remain confident in the prospects for the Group. We are making good progress driving retail and business diversification, with strong growth delivered in higher margin categories such as pre-owned phones and tablets, PC accessories and licensed merchandise. In addition, sales of digital content were up almost 10% and our customer engagement metrics remain positive. At the same time we expect the impact of falling legacy software sales to lessen in the future.
Increasing engagement with gaming communities and broadening our offer, both within and beyond retail, sits at the heart of our strategy. We are committed to investing in our teams and core foundations to support our plans for the business.
“I remain excited by our plans for the business and the opportunities ahead of us,” he concluded.
