GW FY25/26 annual report

[alfred_the_great]

https://assets.ctfassets.net/ost7hseic9hc/1C4g3JYVr04ZCkPb39ygIA/8cc29aed02e772ad1f77aa2bd44e24f4/Accounts_2025-26_FINAL.pdf

 

As ever, an interesting read, but I can’t do justice to in the same way others do, so I’ll leave it to you to read. 

[Lord Marshal]

Another record year? But... the youtubers told me they were on the brink of total collapse!

 

Next quarter for sure.

[kabaakaba]

Ain't they said this for idk? 5 year?

[alfred_the_great]

38 minutes ago, Lord Marshal said:

Another record year? But... the youtubers told me they were on the brink of total collapse!

 

Next quarter for sure.

 Or maybe the one after that?

[sarabando]

record profits do not indicate a healthy company just a profitable one. 

[Xenith]

7 minutes ago, sarabando said:

record profits do not indicate a healthy company just a profitable one. 

It's the other bits like zero debt that show the health! 

[Joe]

Be curious to see @N1SB's breakdown. That said, having given the report a quick glance the figures don't surprise me - operational costs continue to trend upwards at an alarming rate (across the board - raw materials, staff wages, utilities, shipping, etc), which leads to annual price increases. iirc, they were operating on an increased 1% profit overall post-costs last year?

 

Factory 4 - I swear this was due to be open by April / May? Sounds like it's running a bit behind, which is honestly just par for the course with any construction work in the UK.  Although it does seem that it's largely the fitting of moulding equipment and the tooling room that's outstanding now.

[alfred_the_great]

We should probably merge this with the other one on the side. 

[Waaagh?]

They've got Mike Flannigan on board for the Warhammer Amazon stuff!!!!!!

 

That's amazingly cool, I love the stuff he's done.

[Flaherty]

The company is doing great. One stat jumped out:

 

They're spending more on IT (£24.1 m) than the entire creative studio (£21.9m)

 

They're spending more on the IT crowd (£7.9m) than on manufacturing tooling (£7.6m).

Citations from the report:

"In 2025/26 we invested £21.9 million in the Warhammer studio with a further £7.6 million spent on tooling"

"Total IT costs have increased by £2.0 million to £24.1 million including increases in staff costs of £1.0 million (from £6.9 million to £7.9 million) and increases in software and related costs of £1.9 million (from £6.9 million to £8.8 million), including software purchased on multi-year contracts, offset by a reduction in consultancy costs of £0.9 million (from £4.0 million to £3.1 million)." 

[Ripper.McGuirl]

34 minutes ago, Waaagh? said:

They've got Mike Flannigan on board for the Warhammer Amazon stuff!!!!!!

 

That's amazingly cool, I love the stuff he's done.

That’s an interesting choice, he’s mostly a horror guy.

[Flaherty]

Also, if they're just starting scripts now, we probably won't see anything until 2029 at the very earliest. Cavill is going to age out of Titus and into Malcador before all is said and done.

[phandaal]

4 hours ago, Lord Marshal said:

Another record year? But... the youtubers told me they were on the brink of total collapse!

 

Next quarter for sure.

 

Two things are constant with GW:

 

- Record profits, business is booming, it's a great day to be a shareholder

- Times are tough, gotta raise the prices again, can't be helped 

[Chronotonic]

4 hours ago, Lord Marshal said:

Another record year? But... the youtubers told me they were on the brink of total collapse!

 

Next quarter for sure.

 

Always 3rd quarter

[TheVoidDragon]

The video game sections is interesting, with them saying that they received payments from 2 licensees who had decided not to continue. Wonder who/what that could have been.

[DarkMark]

GW really are bullet proof. When times are booming people buy more, and when money is tight they recoil into their honey and buy more.  I think the only thing that really might affect their profits is massively increased energy and transport costs. Otherwise, all gravy.  

[MoriyaSchism]

Are people fans of the setting and models or are they fans of the corporation and the shareholders? I don't really understand the gloating about Youtubers and those that criticize Games Workshop. Damn, Discourse Minis or Macca or whoever sure got owned. Now enjoy your slightly more expensive Baneblade and online only sponson sprue that used to come in the box. What other wonders Games Workshop has in store for us is something only time will tell. 

[Lord Marshal]

33 minutes ago, MoriyaSchism said:

Are people fans of the setting and models or are they fans of the corporation and the shareholders? I don't really understand the gloating about Youtubers and those that criticize Games Workshop. Damn, Discourse Minis or Macca or whoever sure got owned. Now enjoy your slightly more expensive Baneblade and online only sponson sprue that used to come in the box. What other wonders Games Workshop has in store for us is something only time will tell. 

 

It's simply funny that the dramamongers insisting up and down that doom is coming, that every single new release, new rulebook and decision is bad, you should stop playing or else you're a shill for enjoying it, and they will pay for it - only to be proven wrong yet again. 

 

Though to be fair, at least they actually get money out of the clickbait. The weirder individuals are those who apparently despise literally everything about modern GW from business decisions to the art to the lore, but nonetheless can't fathom supporting any other game, IP or company but instead weirdly lavish GW with far more effort and attention than even the most diehard white knights. Ironically, in doing so they're doing more than anybody to sell the idea that GW is the 'only game in town'. 

 

Then again, considering how quickly the same dramamongers went for Trench Crusade the nano-second they smelt a bit of blood in the water to get clicks from, maybe it's better those alternative games remain somewhat on the down-low. 

 

Edited yesterday at 05:49 PM by Lord Marshal

[alfred_the_great]

Sigh, so we’re going to do this*?

I find this annual whinge deeply frustrating for two reasons. 
 

1. I’ve been around this hobby since RT and 1990. It was always better back in the day. 3.5e was dreadful until it wasn’t, the Black Crusade a waste of time until it’s held up as a global example, WD was better when it carried World of Darkness articles. And the insidious culture on the internet that demands instant opinions that must always be right is just exhausting. 
 

2. GW is a Great British Industrial Success Story. We should be celebrating them and expecting the rest of our industry to be like them. I admire the innate small c conservatism that sees them put 3 months of cash away for a rainy day of no sales. The fact they invest in capital upgrades without becoming highly leveraged. That they’re not based in London, and pay relatively well. That they seem to have a pretty flat structure. They know what their USP is, how to hold onto it and sustain it, whilst meeting all their other cultural aims. I say this genuinely, I’d love to work for a company like GW. 

 

 

 

*yes, Hamilton, sue me. 

[phandaal]

46 minutes ago, alfred_the_great said:

Sigh, so we’re going to do this*?

I find this annual whinge deeply frustrating for two reasons. 
 

1. I’ve been around this hobby since RT and 1990. It was always better back in the day. 3.5e was dreadful until it wasn’t, the Black Crusade a waste of time until it’s held up as a global example, WD was better when it carried World of Darkness articles. And the insidious culture on the internet that demands instant opinions that must always be right is just exhausting. 
 

2. GW is a Great British Industrial Success Story. We should be celebrating them and expecting the rest of our industry to be like them. I admire the innate small c conservatism that sees them put 3 months of cash away for a rainy day of no sales. The fact they invest in capital upgrades without becoming highly leveraged. That they’re not based in London, and pay relatively well. That they seem to have a pretty flat structure. They know what their USP is, how to hold onto it and sustain it, whilst meeting all their other cultural aims. I say this genuinely, I’d love to work for a company like GW. 

 

 

 

*yes, Hamilton, sue me. 

 

I think some different criticisms are being bundled together here. The cynical end-of-days YouTube stuff is worthy of mockery, and I do not think anyone here is defending it.

 

MoriyaSchism’s point seems narrower: GW can be a successful, well-run company and still give individual customers legitimate reasons to criticize its prices, product quality, or service. That comes from someone who also cares about Warhammer and wants their experience of it to be better.

[Scribe]

58 minutes ago, alfred_the_great said:

Sigh, so we’re going to do this*?

I find this annual whinge deeply frustrating for two reasons. 
 

1. I’ve been around this hobby since RT and 1990. It was always better back in the day. 3.5e was dreadful until it wasn’t, the Black Crusade a waste of time until it’s held up as a global example, WD was better when it carried World of Darkness articles. And the insidious culture on the internet that demands instant opinions that must always be right is just exhausting. 
 

2. GW is a Great British Industrial Success Story. We should be celebrating them and expecting the rest of our industry to be like them. I admire the innate small c conservatism that sees them put 3 months of cash away for a rainy day of no sales. The fact they invest in capital upgrades without becoming highly leveraged. That they’re not based in London, and pay relatively well. That they seem to have a pretty flat structure. They know what their USP is, how to hold onto it and sustain it, whilst meeting all their other cultural aims. I say this genuinely, I’d love to work for a company like GW. 

 

 

 

*yes, Hamilton, sue me. 

 

All I know, is I wish I had invested in GW, back then, what I spent on models, instead of spending it on models. I would be in pretty nice shape right about now. :D

[phandaal]

3 minutes ago, Scribe said:

 

All I know, is I wish I had invested in GW, back then, what I spent on models, instead of spending it on models. I would be in pretty nice shape right about now. :D

 

No kidding. You'd be like the pizza guy who got tipped in Bitcoin back in 2009. 

[Scribe]

1 hour ago, phandaal said:

 

No kidding. You'd be like the pizza guy who got tipped in Bitcoin back in 2009. 

 

I definitely do not recommend running the numbers through your friendly resident abominable intelligence, the resulting number may be soul crushing.

[de Selby]

Trying to get back on topic (please!!) here is an article (found via dakkadakka) about how current events have actually pushed the share price down

https://www.reuters.com/technology/uks-games-workshop-falls-tariff-cost-concerns-overshadow-record-profit-2026-07-28/

[Ahzek451]

2 hours ago, de Selby said:

Trying to get back on topic (please!!) here is an article (found via dakkadakka) about how current events have actually pushed the share price down

https://www.reuters.com/technology/uks-games-workshop-falls-tariff-cost-concerns-overshadow-record-profit-2026-07-28/

I might be missing a work around, but Is there a way to read this without a subscription?