By Yamini Kalia
(Reuters) -British miniature wargames maker Games Workshop on Tuesday posted a nearly 30% jump in annual pre-tax profit, thanks to robust sales of its flagship Warhammer 40,000 game.
The company, known for its premium, in-house produced fantasy miniatures, has built a cult-like following for Warhammer, which has expanded into video games, books and a film and TV deal with Amazon that was finalised last December.
The flagship science-fantasy universe will be brought to screens via a live-action series from Amazon Studios. Henry Cavill, the British actor who played Superman and is a fan of Warhammer, has said he will be involved in the project.
Games Workshop’s Space Marine 2 video game, released last September, has also been a commercial success with more than 7 million copies sold.
Games Workshop reported pre-tax profit of 262.8 million pounds ($350.79 million) for the year ended June 1, up from 203 million pounds the year before.
Shares of the company were up 4.1% at 15,880 pence by 0816 GMT.
“We have been pretty solid during the year managing our cash costs and investments,” the company said in a statement.
“The exception was the news about tariffs and the cute looking pipistrelle bat that is delaying our work on our new temporary car park,” it added.
The Nottingham-based games designer forecast a tariff impact of about 12 million pounds on its pre-tax profit in the current fiscal year and a 2% impact on gross margin in the following year.
However, Games Workshop said it was “business as usual” for the firm, which already has a U.S. corporate entity and is investing in its Memphis base.
Peel Hunt analysts expect the company’s strong performance to continue, despite its vulnerability to tariffs, a stronger pound and a tough comparative period due to the exceptional success of Space Marine 2 last year.
($1 = 0.7492 pounds)
(Reporting by Yamini Kalia, Unnamalai L and Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Kate Mayberry)
