Games Workshop hands £12m to staff after bumper year

Around 2,500 staff at retailer Games Workshop have landed bonuses worth £12 million thanks to soaring profits as demand surged among locked-down hobbyists.

The group said each employee will have received £5,000 in cash over the year to May under its profit-share scheme.

The total bonus – the final payment of which will be handed out by the end of this month – marks a £10 million hike on the £2 million awards given to staff the previous year.

Games Workshop said they are handed out to staff on an equal basis.

Its bonus cheer comes as the Warhammer maker said annual pre-tax profits are set to nearly double to at least £150 million, up from £89 million the previous year.

Sales are expected to hit “not less than” £350 million, up 30% on the year before, thanks to fans of its table-top games spending more on its products as they remained stuck at home during coronavirus restrictions.

Games Workshop said the bonuses have been made “in recognition of our staff’s contribution to these results”.

As well as the staff share awards, Games Workshop also delivered good news to investors as it said it would pay out a 50p-a-share dividend in July, taking its total dividends for the year to 235p-a-share, up from 145p-a-share the previous year.

Games Workshop has been able to offset lockdown store closures by shifting sales online and through wholesale trading.

In its first half, sales through its ecommerce platforms increased by 87.7% to £46 million, while wholesale trade sales increased 33% to £104.9 million.

It revealed in January that pre-tax profits jumped by 56.3% to £91.6 million for the six months to November 29, compared with a year ago.