Sparks - Games Workshop Group

Games Workshop Group has reported a strong trading update for H126. Management’s estimated core revenue of not less than £310m (year-on-year growth of at least 15%) is impressive following the two preceding years that included launches of new editions of its main intellectual properties. The dip in licensing revenue to not less than £16m is not unexpected given the record performance in H125 and consistent with our estimates. Despite the drop in high-margin licensing revenue, PBT is estimated to be not less than £135m (year-on-year growth of about 6%). This implies a good improvement in the core operating margin versus H125, and takes the achieved H126 profit to just over 60% of our FY26 profit estimate.

The strong performance has enabled the payment of yet another dividend, taking the year-to-date dividend per share to £3.25, which compares very favourably to £1.85 at this stage last year.