GameStop narrowly misses revenue estimates as Q4 like-for-likes climb 7.8%

Global games retailer GameStop has reported a like-for-like sales increase of 7.8 per cent for the quarter ending February 1st.

Sales for period grew from $3.56bn last year to $3.68bn, although this was short of the $3.79bn consensus estimate. Earnings fell from $261.1m last year to $220.5m.

For the full year like-for-like sales grew 3.8 per cent to $9.04bn, which was up from last year’s overall global sales of $8.89bn. Fiscal earnings for the period reached $354.2m, up from the previous year’s $269.7m net loss.

New video games hardware sales increased by 29.7 per cent thanks to the arrival of PS4 and Xbox One. New games sales fell 2.8 per cent and pre-owned sales fell 4.1 per cent.

Full-year digital receipts grew 15.1 per cent to $724.4m Mobile and consumer electronics sales grew 51.6 per cent year-on-year.

The retailer confirmed that it expects to reduce its global store count by two per cent in 2014.

GameStop predicts a jump in total sales of between seven and ten per cent for the current quarter and between eight and 14 per cent for the current fiscal year.

The launch of new consoles in 2013 marked the return of innovation to the video game category and GameStop’s market share increased to an all-time high,” CEO Paul Raines said.

Our emerging digital and mobile businesses, which did not exist three years ago, surpassed $1 billion of revenue. As we push forward into 2014, both the re-energized video game category and our new Technology Brands business unit provide us with solid growth opportunities in the consumer electronics and wireless markets.”