Gamestop’s Irish pre-tax losses fall by a third

Pre-tax losses at the Irish arm of Gamestop fell by a third to €1.72 million last year.

The company said that a focus on cost-saving had helped narrow the loss as revenues jumped 3 per cent to €52 million in the 12 months to February 3rd.

Fifa 18, Call of Duty WWII, Grand Theft Auto V and Assassins Creed Origins were amongst the best sellers during 2017.

The company recorded an operating loss of €429,141 in the 53 weeks – down 75 per cent on the previous year amid “cost saving initiatives, particularly in the area of labour and occupancy costs”.

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Interest charges totalling €1.2 million added to the operating losses.

The amount spent on operating lease rentals rose to €3.9 million from €3.56 million.

Directors described trading and the results as satisfactory “in light of the lifecycle stage of the current generation of computer consoles”.

They said they had continued to review store performance in the current year.

“We will open stores where we can identify a profitable opportunity and 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.

“We also plan to expand our offering of complimentary digital gaming products, such as point of sale activated game cards, digital downloadable content and other such innovations. We will also continue to focus on the online market.”

Numbers employed by the group last year increased from 266 to 327, with employment costs increasing sharply to €8.1 million form €4.9 million.