Looking back on the last two years, you could be forgiven for thinking that the End Times really had come for Games Workshop.
Their share price had dropped (as share prices do from time to time) which had prompted the usual round of articles, YouTube videos, blog posts and forum threads about the impending collapse of the company. The company has screwed up. This was the end. It was a prophecy that would never come to pass. As it turns out, the opposite is true. I can't help but think the constant critics will be disappointed. GW have shot up the FTSE index.
These are the companies ranked highest on the London Stock Exchange by value.
Games workshop is now worth more than £770 million. That is a big deal. That is a lot of money.
The Market is reacting so positively for a number of reasons. Firstly, GW are almost completely integrated. They make their own plastic, own their floor space and machinery, create their own casts, have their own stores... pretty much the only things they require other companies for are printing and shipping.
Shares are one thing; what about their sales? Good news here, too. Both sales and profit for the financial year ending May 2018 are up over 50%, and have set records for the company. This year they took £108.6 million (against £70.9 million last year) with an operating profit of £33.4 million (compared with £9.7 million). (See the detail here). So it looks like their immediate future is secure. But maybe you know a thing or two about the stock market. If you do, you'll know that stocks are a volatile commodity. Shares can fall, and fall sharply, often without warning. You're right.
The reassuring thing is: Games Workshop know it, too. "I realised many years ago that eternal growth, though sorely needed by some investors, was not sustainable... It became clear that promising growth at all was prejudicial to our ability to make good decisions that would keep the company alive and healthy". Those are the words of non-Executive Chairman Tom Kirby in GW's financial report 2016-2017. You can read it here.
It's a message the haters would do well to remember. Decisions are being taken to ensure long term survival, not just pleasing a bunch of shareholders that couldn't give two hoots about their models, the game, or the lore. Nor are they pandering to a bunch of whinging ex-hobbyists, thankfully.
Whilst I'm sure everyone could think of a decision by GW they couldn't understand, this latest news proves that those decisions are taking the company from strength to strength.
Does this mean we'll see a break in the whinging from those who see impending doom in every single decision GW make?
Probably not. Many seem to wish financial ruin on the company regardless of what that would actually mean for the hobby. Most of what I've read from those who refuse to be anything but negative about the hobby and the direction it is headed has little basis in fact. So next time this crops up and you're looking for something to say, you'll have something they absolutely can't pick apart.
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