16th Oct 2014 08:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - Game Digital PLC Thursday said it swung to a pretax profit in its last financial year, driven by a 31% increase in revenue as it gained market share in both the UK and Spain.
The video games retailer posted a pretax profit of GBP7.4 million for the year ended July 26, compared with a pretax loss of GBP15.4 million the prior year.
Revenue rose 31% to GBP861.8 million, up from GBP657.9 million a year earlier, buoyed by market-shares gains in both the UK and Spain. The UK makes up roughly 75% of the group's revenues, with Spain representing around 25%.
"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 preowned, increased supplier credit, and financing facilities in place in both the UK and Spain," said Chief Executive Martyn Gibbs in a statement.
The company said it has been making significant investments to support its omni-channel and digital proposition.
"Over the coming months we will be rolling out more interactive digital infrastructure within the stores. This will provide a more integrated cross-platform gaming ecosystem, and so make it easier for customers to discover and purchase digital content through us - either through their mobile phone or directly on-screen," it said.
Game Digital said it is also working closely with its suppliers to expand its offering of console and non-console digital content for sale both in store and online.
"Game has delivered a strong performance in what has been a transformational year for the company, which included our successful IPO in June. We are a dynamic and well-funded company with a strong platform from which to build and drive further growth and profitability," said Chairman David Hamid in a statement.
The retailer said it ended the year with net cash of GBP83.7 million, compared with net debt of GBP76.6 million a year earlier, driven by improvements in working capital, credit insurance and one-off capital structure benefits from its recent IPO.
Game Digital shares were trading 1.4% lower Thursday morning at 276.00 pence.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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