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It sounds like standard media jargon, but the Chairman of the Board has absorbed the CEO position he vacated to bring in Wells 5 years ago. Interesting.
There's something ironic about the wording: "The needs of the business over the last few years has meant there has been a gradual overlapping of the roles of Chairman and CEO" given that Tom Kirby took the role of Chairman so that there could be a different person as CEO.
Did Tom Kirby finish his posting in the States and return to the UK?
Games Workshop Group announces a change in Senior Management
For the past five years Games Workshop has had the best CEO it has ever had. Under Mark Wells’ leadership we have become better organised, clearer thinking and commercially more robust.
The needs of the business over the last few years has meant there has been a gradual overlapping of the roles of Chairman and CEO. Recently this has become so complete that, after discussions together, Mark and Tom have agreed that the CEO’s role, as it stands, is redundant.
Tom will incorporate the role of Acting CEO into his position as Chairman and, whilst it will undoubtedly come as something of a surprise, Mark has decided to leave the business.
Mark is looking forward to planning his next challenge and he does so with our support, best wishes and heartfelt thanks.
Based on reading that, Tom now has all of da powah in his hands.
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angryboy2k wrote: There's something ironic about the wording: "The needs of the business over the last few years has meant there has been a gradual overlapping of the roles of Chairman and CEO" given that Tom Kirby took the role of Chairman so that there could be a different person as CEO.
Did Tom Kirby finish his posting in the States and return to the UK?
Yup he did.
Back on topic. Wells probably seen the writing on the wall about the and departed in a amicable manner.
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Jan 18 (Reuters) - Games Workshop Group PLC : * Revenue for six months to December 2 £67.5M, versus £62.7M yoy * H1 pre-tax profit £11.1M, versus £9.5M yoy * Dividend per share declared in the period 18P * Games workshop's core business model remains strong
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Jan 18 (Reuters) - Games Workshop Group PLC : * Revenue for six months to December 2 £67.5M, versus £62.7M yoy * H1 pre-tax profit £11.1M, versus £9.5M yoy * Dividend per share declared in the period 18P * Games workshop's core business model remains strong
So if GW saw their revenue increase 7.06% What was the last price increase? 10%? 15%? So they still have falling volume and a declining customer base with the price hikes being the only thing hiding that they're actually losing market share.
When GW manages to both increase their sales revenue and increase their volume, then they have their core business model remaining strong.
This shouldn't really catch us off guard as when you do the same things, you get the same result and GW has been doing the same thing since the LOTR bubble popped.
Wells is probably smart to pursue opportunities elsewhere. There are lots of companies bigger than GW in all sorts of industries that might not have the same 3-5%+ a year decline in customer base. Actually looking at a graph of units sold over the last decade of things like starters and squad unit boxes must be pretty depressing.
-a
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2013/01/18 08:53:56
It could be a cost cutting excersise. GW now save a 6 figure salary and all the associated costs with that.
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Isn't this what happened to the Green Goblin in the first Toby spiderman movie?
Will we see Mark Wells return in a thunderhawk gunship, glad in terminator armour cursing the "board"? We can only hope.
I suppose if we are looking for positives with the CEO merged into the current chairman's position then Games workshop will be more inclined to turn a profit and become a more successful business, with the largest company in Tabletop gaming anyone would be a fool to let it go under.
Further more even if they do model their market towards the young (as they always have btw) and lose members as a result, the older folks will be pushed into the arms and armies of the smaller model company's.
So win all around?
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/01/18 09:16:47
They've cut costs like mad over the last year. I thought all the fat was gone out of GW and they managed to cut another £1.4 million. That's impressive, but I don't see any mention of any investment in actually growing the business.
They are completely dedicated to the single employee store model now though. That last financial release pretty much makes that clear. It even mentions the recruiting drive to find more of them.
Which is actually kind of strange because the last financial report bragged about how they had redundant staff and already had replacements ready for all their managers.
So they cut expenses like mad, but now instead of having back up staff, they are recruiting. I guess a lot of managers got fired and are now being replaced.
This is only a half year report and the full one that comes out in the summer will likely go into more detail on just where expenses were cut.
Further more even if they do model their market towards the young (as they always have btw) and lose members as a result, the older folks will be pushed into the arms and armies of the smaller model company's.
So win all around?
Yep. It also means GW will stay the course as Kirby's plan of hiking prices and paying himself phat dividends is working (in terms of him getting richer).
The latest report also mentions that they are still committed to protecting their margins, so that means another price hike.
More of the status quo, more room for competition.
Win all around I guess. Investors get dividends, Kirby gets more power (hold two board seats as acting CEO and chairmen, and more of GW's market share gets given away to other companies.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/18 09:23:24
So if GW saw their revenue increase 7.06% What was the last price increase? 10%? 15%?
Less than 5% as calculated across the catalogue. But obviously we have no way of knowing what the real increase was when number of sales is taken to account.
agustin wrote: I seem to recall starters and core unit boxes going up more than 5%. Something like 10% or 12%
Yes, some individual items have seen signifant increases in last few years (especially boxed sets). OTOH, there are always items whichs prices do not increase at all. It's difficult to say how much exactly price increases amount for revenue changes.
angryboy2k wrote: There's something ironic about the wording: "The needs of the business over the last few years has meant there has been a gradual overlapping of the roles of Chairman and CEO" given that Tom Kirby took the role of Chairman so that there could be a different person as CEO.
Did Tom Kirby finish his posting in the States and return to the UK?
Yup he did.
Back on topic. Wells probably seen the writing on the wall about the and departed in a amicable manner.
What nonsense. It's far more likely that Mark Wells has been headhunted to a much larger business. He's seen as something of a miracle worker around retail as he's managed to improve profitability in a company that was struggling while in the UK high street chains are going pop at the rate of one a week since Christmas. Keep your eyes peeled in 1-3 months once his grace period ends.
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angryboy2k wrote: There's something ironic about the wording: "The needs of the business over the last few years has meant there has been a gradual overlapping of the roles of Chairman and CEO" given that Tom Kirby took the role of Chairman so that there could be a different person as CEO.
Did Tom Kirby finish his posting in the States and return to the UK?
Yup he did.
Back on topic. Wells probably seen the writing on the wall about the and departed in a amicable manner.
What nonsense. It's far more likely that Mark Wells has been headhunted to a much larger business. He's seen as something of a miracle worker around retail as he's managed to improve profitability in a company that was struggling while in the UK high street chains are going pop at the rate of one a week since Christmas. Keep your eyes peeled in 1-3 months once his grace period ends.
Yup, gotta love how he did that for GW... [/sarcasm]
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/01/18 10:41:02
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agustin wrote: I seem to recall starters and core unit boxes going up more than 5%. Something like 10% or 12%
Yup a lot of plastics went up a fair whack, but then a huge range of prices stayed level, so the average increase is pretty small. Without knowing how much of what is selling (though we can assume mostly starter sets and core plastics from stores, and assume very little mail order only is sold) we can only guess as how the sales volume has changed.
Going by the YoY increase I'd have expected a much bigger bump from the new release of 40K.
agustin wrote: I seem to recall starters and core unit boxes going up more than 5%. Something like 10% or 12%
Yup a lot of plastics went up a fair whack, but then a huge range of prices stayed level, so the average increase is pretty small. Without knowing how much of what is selling (though we can assume mostly starter sets and core plastics from stores, and assume very little mail order only is sold) we can only guess as how the sales volume has changed.
I did some sums the other day and sales volumes will have to fall significantly before it affects profit. In fact there is a point where revenue falls, but actual profits still increase.
agustin wrote: I seem to recall starters and core unit boxes going up more than 5%. Something like 10% or 12%
Yup a lot of plastics went up a fair whack, but then a huge range of prices stayed level, so the average increase is pretty small. Without knowing how much of what is selling (though we can assume mostly starter sets and core plastics from stores, and assume very little mail order only is sold) we can only guess as how the sales volume has changed.
I did some sums the other day and sales volumes will have to fall significantly before it affects profit. In fact there is a point where revenue falls, but actual profits still increase.
By that you mean revenue from lower profit margin stuff falling whilst revenue from higher profit margin stuff increases or remains constant?
agustin wrote: I seem to recall starters and core unit boxes going up more than 5%. Something like 10% or 12%
Yup a lot of plastics went up a fair whack, but then a huge range of prices stayed level, so the average increase is pretty small. Without knowing how much of what is selling (though we can assume mostly starter sets and core plastics from stores, and assume very little mail order only is sold) we can only guess as how the sales volume has changed.
I did some sums the other day and sales volumes will have to fall significantly before it affects profit. In fact there is a point where revenue falls, but actual profits still increase.
By that you mean revenue from lower profit margin stuff falling whilst revenue from higher profit margin stuff increases or remains constant?
Correct-kind of. If your average margin is 40% (you make in £40 in gross profit for £100 in sales) and you put your prices up by 10% then you can afford to lose 10% in volume sales and still be making more profit. Turnover would be down 1% (£99), but gross profit up by just over 10% (£45). You can also raise your margin by concentrating on the items that make the most profit, and attempting to sell more of those.
Turnover is actually a terrible measure of a company's health.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/01/18 11:28:37
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