UK Retailer Game Group Sees Significant Losses In 2011 First Half

UK retailer Game Group has posted financial results for the first half of the 2011 fiscal year, noting significant losses of £51.5 million ($80.1 million), compared to losses of £21.5 million ($33.5 million) for the same period a year prior. Game's CEO Ian Shepherd explained that the company is looking to accelerate its digital sales and preowned business in order to help it to a speedy recovery. "Our preowned business continues to demonstrate strong revenues and margins," he said. He also noted that a "high-quality Christmas software line-up" will be key to helping the company recover in the coming months. "2011 has been a very tough year for the video games industry," he said. "A combination of a cyclical low point in the industry itself and unprecedented macro-economic conditions have led to significant market revenue declines." "Game Group has increased market share in this difficult climate as we have focussed on delivering our strategy. Nonetheless, the impact of the wider market can be seen on our first half results," he admitted. "Like many other retailers, we believe that trading conditions will remain tough for the remainder of the year, and have set our plans accordingly. We are determined to again outperform a difficult market this Christmas, by using our unique specialist position to give customers the very best choice and value." Discussing the company's future plans, Shepherd explained, "we are investing for a different video games market, with new games consoles coming to market and customers exploring new ways of playing games, including digital; online; and cloud-based gaming." For the half-year ended July 31, 2011, the company saw total revenue of £558.8 million ($868.8 million), compared to £624.6 million ($971.1 million) year-on-year. Preowned sales made up 30.1 percent of that total revenue, compared to 55.7 percent from new hardware and software. Digital sales were up 40 percent year-on-year.