GAME figures reveal massively successful Christmas

Leading UK videogames retailer GAME Group has announced its sales for the six weeks leading up to January 7th, revealing that the firm's sales rose by a massive 37.5 per cent year on year during the Christmas period.

The group's overall sales across both its UK and European operations were up 37.5 per cent, with like for like sales up 26.6 per cent; while in the UK alone, like for like sales rose by 27.7 per cent over the six week period.

GAME noted in a statement this morning that a much improved supply of PSP consoles in the run-up to Christmas, as well as "creative promotion of existing formats" and the launch of Xbox 360, led to the improved figures.

Looking at the full 49 weeks to January 7th, covering the entirety of GAME's trading year to date, the company reported total sales in the UK and Ireland up 4.9 per cent - representing like-for-like growth of some 1.6 per cent.

Although the figures are low, they're still ahead of the overall growth of the UK software market last year, which was reported yesterday by trade body ELSPA to have slowed down to a mere 0.7 per cent growth.

Across the entire GAME Group, sales for the 49-week period were up 11.5 per cent, with like for like sales up 2.7 per cent, and the firm now expects to report profits of between GBP 8 and GBP 10 million for the year ended January 31st.

"This outstanding Christmas sales performance has helped an otherwise difficult year as the industry transitions to the next technology cycle," commented GAME chairman Peter Lewis in today's statement, which was issued to the London Stock Exchange.

"The UK market continues to be very competitive, particularly on second generation formats, which has in the past contributed to our reduced gross margins," he continued. "However, the resilience of our business model has been amply demonstrated. Our industry leadership was reaffirmed with an increase in market share throughout the Christmas period compared with October and November."