Losses at Irish arm of GameStop hit €3.2m despite best-selling hits

Sales of the best-selling Call of Duty: Black Ops II games were not enough to prevent losses mounting further at the Irish arm of GameStop last year.

New figures show pre-tax losses at the Dublin-based GameStop Ltd totalled €3.2 million, following pre-tax losses of €5 million in fiscal 2012.

Revenues at the firm fell 9.5 per cent to €49.87 million from €55.13 million in the 53 weeks to February 2nd, 2013.

The figures show that the firm, which has close to 50 outlets in the Republic, recorded an operating loss of €2.2 million, with interest payments of a further €1 million.

Satisfactory
"Both the level of business and the end year financial position were considered satisfactory in light of the current global economic downturn and the life cycle stage of the current generation of computer consoles," directors stated in their report.

On the group’s future developments, the directors say that the company will continue to review the performance of its stores. “We will consider closing any stores that are not performing to expectations or where the cost base, particularly occupancy costs, are out of line with the business levels in the location.”

Online market
"We also plan to expand our offering of complimentary digital gaming products . . . We will also continue to focus on the online market," they said.

The amount spent on operating lease rentals increased marginally from €4.49 million to €4.5 million, with the numbers employed by the group falling from 363 to 349.

Remuneration to the four directors, Michael Finucane, Niall Lawlor, Robert Alan Lloyd and Michael Mauler, increased from €448,698 to €518,544.

The accounts show that Mr Finucane and Mr Mauler resigned on May 1st 2012.

The accounts were prepared on a “going concern” basis.