An August trading statement risked giving the game away ahead of full-year results from Game Digital (GMD), due on Thursday 15 October. Management trumpeted the video games retailer's shift towards offering digital content and organising live events rather than selling low-margin hardware, but to no avail - the group's shares have slid by about a fifth this year. Investors will hope next week's results prove the group's troubled past is well and truly behind it.
Price cuts to gaming consoles drove Game Digital's first-half hardware sales down 19 per cent. But strip those out and gross profit rose 9 per cent, driven by a 16 per cent rise in digital sales. Moreover, management has attracted 550,000 customers to GAME Wallet, the group's electronic payments platform, in less than a year. And recently acquired Multiplay inked a three-year deal to host its flagship Insomnia gaming festival at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.