Games Workshop hands employees £5,000 bonus despite share price drop
Key Points
- Nottingham-based miniatures company Games Workshop has published its annual results for the 52 weeks ended 31 May 2026.
- Despite record revenue and profit figures, the group's share price tumbled by more than 5% on Wednesday morning.
- The group thanked its staff for their hard work and contribution in increasing revenue by providing each employee a separate cash bonus of £5,000.
- Earnings per share rose to 624p and the company paid out a dividend of 485p to shareholders.
Nottingham-based Games Workshop has published its annual results for the 52 weeks ended 31 May 2026.
The company reported record annual sales and profit, but despite this, it saw its share price drop 5.5% to as low as 19,100p on Wednesday 29 July, as the company also announced a drop in licensing revenue and acknowledged pressure from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on exports to the United States.
The group recorded core revenue growth of 10.9% to a total of £626.8 million, and core operating profit rose by 15.7% from £211.8 million to £245.1 million.
Earnings per share rose to 624p, and the company declared and paid a dividend of 485p to shareholders during the period.
Licensing revenue decreased from £52.5 million to £32.9 million over the period, which accounts a drop-off after the royalties earned from the success of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II – a popular video game based on one of the group’s most successful IPs.
Core operating expenses are up £19.7 million in the period, which reflects an increase in pay to the company’s staff and investing in new roles.
Notably, the company opted to thank its staff for their hard work by issuing each employee with a standalone cash bonus of £5,000.
“Most of the team have worked tirelessly to maintain our core business profit percentage at c.40% and to reward their huge efforts, and in line with our remuneration policy, we made a Group Profit Share cash award at £5,000 per staff member,” Group CEO Kevin Rountree said.
“We also operate an employee sharesave scheme as a means of further encouraging the involvement of employees in the Group’s performance. Thank you and well done to everyone at Games Workshop.”
Rountree said the business continued to be run for the long term, and was in ‘great shape’. He reiterated that the goal of the business: “to make the best fantasy miniatures in the world, to engage and inspire our customers, and to sell our products globally at a profit.”
How US tariffs affected Games Workshop
In the company’s strategic report, Rountree directly addressed the impact of US tariffs, some of which were recouped following the US Supreme Court’s ruling that they were unlawful.
“Well, I thought this would be drama free, how wrong I was,” said Games Workshop CEO Kevin Rountree.
“During the period we paid c.£12 million in new US tariffs. Following the US Supreme Court ruling we reclaimed £7.8 million of tariffs for the period to February 2026.”
We have recognised all of this reclaim in the period to May 2026; of which £1.0 million was received during the period and £6.8 million following the period end,” he said.
Since February 2026, however, there have been further changes to US tariff legislation, and Games Workshop estimates that in the coming year it will pay around £13 million of new US tariffs.
Rountree said that efficiency improvements have led the company’s gross margin to improve despite these tariffs, adding that Games Workshop did not consider these tariffs as exceptional.
“Unlike some companies, we do not consider tariffs as an exceptional item, but rather part of the uncertainty of operating globally,” Rountree said.
