Sales have surged at Green Man Gaming, an online games retailer that is exploring a £100m stock market float.

Launched in 2010, Green Man has sought to challenge the traditional video games market by allowing players to buy digital copies of games rather than on DVDs or other physical formats, and then trade them back at a later date.

Turnover for the year to December 2017 rose 28pc to £45.7m, according to accounts filed with Companies House. Losses before tax shrank from £2.4m to £931,000. After appointing mid-market investment bank Numis earlier this year, it is Green Man’s overseas operations that are driving growth. Sales outside of Europe increased 42.8pc to £34.0m. Its top-line figures in the UK and the rest of Europe were broadly flat, at £2.6m and £10.9m respectively.