Games Workshop is a leading international specialist designer, manufacturer and multi-channel retailer of miniatures, scenery, artwork and fiction for tabletop miniature games set in its fantasy Warhammer worlds.
EDISON VIEW
Games Workshop Group (GAW) enjoyed a strong FY26, a year for which there were relatively low expectations at the start given the anticipated headwinds of tough comparatives from FY24 and FY25, as well as the potential negative impact from newly introduced tariffs in the US. GAW’s core business surprised on the upside from a revenue perspective as it continued to enjoy good engagement on new products released, which translated into even better gains in gross profit and operating profit. FY27 will benefit from the launch of the 11th edition of GAW’s main intellectual property (IP), Warhammer 40K, and, if the customary three-year release cycle remains in place, FY28 should see the launch of the next edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. The company is facing cost pressures from higher input costs following the Middle East conflict, while investing in supporting infrastructure, growing its international presence and customer engagement, which may put pressure on the level of potential operational gearing. With respect to the Amazon partnership, there is steady progress, with scripting about to begin following the completion of initial outlines.
Find more in our last note on Games Workshop Group — Not bad for an ‘off year’
Games Workshop Group plc (LSE: GAW) is an international specialist designer, manufacturer
and multi-channel retailer of miniatures, scenery, artwork and fiction for tabletop
miniature games set in its fantasy Warhammer worlds. Warhammer is not itself a company:
it is the intellectual property owned by Games Workshop Group plc, covering the Warhammer
40,000, Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer: The Old World settings.
Games Workshop makes money in two ways. Core revenue, from designing, making and selling those products, was £626.8m in FY26, or 95.0% of group revenue of £659.7m. Licensing revenue, from licensing the Warhammer worlds to video game, film, television and merchandise partners, was £32.9m, or 5.0% of group revenue. Core revenue reached customers through three routes in FY26: trade sales through independent stockists, £405.3m, 64.7% of core revenue and 61.4% of group revenue; retail sales through Games Workshop's own 598 branded storefronts at the FY26 year end, £131.4m, 21.0% of core revenue and 19.9% of group revenue; and web store sales, £90.1m, 14.4% of core revenue and 13.7% of group revenue.
Games Workshop splits its revenue between core revenue, meaning miniatures, paints, scenery, rules and fiction, and licensing revenue from the Warhammer intellectual property. Licensing revenue was £32.9m in FY26, the year to 31 May 2026, or 5.0% of group revenue of £659.7m, down from £52.5m in FY25.
Games Workshop sells through three channels. Core revenue of £626.8m in FY26 split £405.3m through trade, £131.4m through Games Workshop's own retail stores and £90.1m through its web store. Edison calculates the resulting shares of core revenue and of group revenue, set out below, from the figures Games Workshop reports.
Trade sales:
Retail sales:
Online sales
Total core revenue
Trade accounts:
Games Workshop, the company behind Warhammer, was profitable on every measure it reports in FY26: profit before tax of £275.7m on group revenue of £659.7m, an operating margin of 41.7% of group revenue, helped by a US tariff reclaim booked in the year. The company typically raises the price of its products in the low-single-digit range every year. The average price increase in FY26 was 3%.
Games Workshop owns the Warhammer intellectual property outright, designs its miniatures in-house and manufactures them in the United Kingdom.
Edison's Outlook of 2 March 2026 puts return on capital employed for the core business well above 100% over a sustained period, reaching 191% in FY25. This increased to 196% in FY26. The range spans miniatures, paints, scenery, rules and fiction, which supports repeat purchase from the same customer over time. Sales were made in 24 countries in FY26, so no single national market decides the result. Edison's FY26 note of 29 July 2026 records higher FY27 costs for investment in the business's infrastructure and geographic expansion, in customer engagement, in intellectual property protection and in IT.
Games Workshop's core revenue is primarily infleunced by the phasing of the launches of the its main intellectual properties and the success of its licensing. New editions of the two main intellectual properties are typically released every three year and the company releases new products for each of thos properties in subsequent years. With integrated design, manufacturing and distribution profitbaility can be influenced such as commodity prices, logistics costs and the company's investment in scaling the business. A broad geographic exposure for revenue with no hedging and a cost base that is concentrated in the UK presents foreign currenyc translation risks.
Edition phasing: a new edition of a main intellectual property concentrates demand into its launch year, so growth can be stronger in launch years than in the years between.
Licensing timing: a single large licence can land most of its revenue in one year.
Currency: sales are made in currencies other than sterling and the exposure is not hedged, so exchange rates move the reported result on their own, independently of how much was sold.
Costs and one-offs: new US tariffs and packaging taxes were marginally dilutive to the FY26 core gross margin. Poor weather in the United States in January 2026 held back sales before they recovered, and poor execution in the final week of FY26 cost a quoted £1.5m against plan. Core operating costs rose around 11% in FY26, partly offset by a group profit share £2.4m lower than in FY25. Edison's FY26 note flags higher input costs following the Middle East conflict as an FY27 pressure.
Games Workshop reached a final agreement with Amazon in December 2024 to adapt Warhammer 40,000 as film and television series, with associated merchandising rights.
The Warhammer 40,000 11th edition, launched on 20 June 2026 with the Armageddon boxed set, and will benefit Games Workshop's FY27. A new edition replaces the rules and refreshes the model range, which concentrates purchases from existing customers and draws in new ones.
Games Workshop pays US tariffs on goods sold into the United States and manufactures in the United Kingdom, while around 79% of core revenue was earned outside the United Kingdom in FY26, none of it hedged.
Games Workshop's dividend policy is to return truly surplus cash to shareholders.
Cash counts as surplus only once a required minimum cash buffer is retained, and that
buffer was raised to £120m from £100m with the publication of FY26 results.
Games Workshop declares dividends more than once a year rather than as a single annual
payment.
Edison's Outlook of 2 March 2026 identifies seven main risks to Games Workshop's business: release phasing, growth in new markets, licensing visibility, 3D printing, single-site manufacturing concentration, unhedged currency exposure and US tariffs.
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Kevin Rountree
CEO
Liz Harrison
CFO
Mark Lam
Non-executive chairman