Profit alert hits Games Workshop

Shares in fantasy games retailer Games Workshop have sunk by nearly 30% after the company issued a profit warning. The firm said it was "unlikely" to meet a sales target of between £151m-£162m for the year to 29 May, following a sales slowdown in the UK and Europe. Games Workshop said the sales shortfall would "impact materially" o­n profits.

The company makes figures for fantasy games and also holds the licence to make products linked to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Shares in Games Workshop closed down 213.5 pence at 502.5 pence. Games Workshop is the latest in a growing list of UK retailers to report disappointing sales. High Street names such as Boots, Marks & Spencer and Jessops have already issued profit warnings this year. The firm said sales in its March trading period, which included the Easter weekend, were "well below budget". However, it added that, although sales will fall short of forecasts, they are still expected to "exceed comfortably" the 2003 figure of £129m.

Games Workshop also said it remained "a highly profitable and cash generative business" and that it intended to maintain the full-year dividend for 2005 at 2004's level.

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