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.

• Agreement: film and television series adaptation of Warhammer 40,000, with associated merchandising rights, agreed in December 2024.
• Option: Amazon holds an option for exclusive rights in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, covering Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer: The Old World, after an initial Warhammer 40,000 production.
• Terms: financial terms are confidential, and no Amazon-specific revenue is separately identified in Edison's published estimates.
• Accounting: income from the agreement is reported within Games Workshop's licensing revenue.
• Progress: as at Edison's note of 29 July 2026, Games Workshop reported steady progress, with scripting about to begin after initial outlines were completed.

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.

• FY15, edition launched May 2014: constant-currency revenue changed -0.3%.
• FY18, edition launched June 2017: constant-currency revenue changed +40.8%.
• FY21, edition launched July 2020: constant-currency revenue changed +33.9%.
• FY24, edition launched June 2023: constant-currency revenue changed +13.9%.
• Margin pattern: a new Warhammer 40,000 edition has historically supported an increase in operating margin against the prior year.
• Next in the cycle: Edison's reading of the historic three-year cadence points to the next Warhammer Age of Sigmar edition falling in FY28.

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.

• Structural exposure: manufacturing is concentrated at a single site in the United Kingdom, while around 79% of core revenue was earned overseas in FY26 and none of the currency exposure is hedged.
• Tariffs paid: £12m of new US tariffs paid in FY26.
• Tariffs reclaimed: £7.8m reclaimed and booked in FY26, worth around 1.2 percentage points of core gross margin.
• Currency: US dollar weakness against sterling reduced FY26 group revenue and group operating profit by around 1%.
• FY27 guidance: management guidance given at the FY26 results in July 2026 is for around £13m of US tariff costs.

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.

• FY26 dividends declared: 485p per share, against 520p per share in FY25.
• Cash buffer: £120m as at the FY26 results in July 2026, raised from £100m.
• Cash position: £182.9m of cash at the FY26 year end, against £132.6m a year earlier, and net cash of £126.9m after IFRS 16 lease liabilities of £56m.
• Cost of the dividend: dividend payments equalled 24.3% of group revenue in FY26, against 27.8% in FY25.
• Cash generation: free cash flow after interest equalled 31.3% of group revenue in FY26, against 31.9% in FY25.

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.

• Release phasing: release dates and the relative sales of new editions shape which fiscal year revenue lands in.
• New markets: growth depends on the rate at which new customers are attracted where Games Workshop is less established.
• Licensing visibility: minimum guarantees are recognised when a licence begins, which limits visibility on the timing of licensing income.
• 3D printing: improvements in 3D printing could allow miniature quality to be replicated outside Games Workshop.
• Manufacturing concentration: manufacturing is concentrated at a single site in the United Kingdom.
• Currency: most group revenue is earned in currencies other than sterling and the exposure is not hedged.
• US tariffs: goods sold into the United States carry tariff costs, guided at the FY26 results in July 2026 to be higher in FY27 than the level paid in FY26.

Edison's research on Games Workshop is published by Edison Investment Research Limited, which trades as Edison Group and has its head office in London. The FY26 note on Games Workshop, 'Not bad for an “off year”' of 29 July 2026, was written by Russell Pointon, Director of Content, Consumer and Media, with Chloe Wong. Games Workshop is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited and pays Edison for the coverage. Edison publishes no buy, sell or hold recommendations and no price targets, and its research is not personal investment advice.