Games Workshop today said online sales grew by 71% in its latest half-year as overall revenues grew by more than 50%.



The games developer and retailer, ranked in the Top350 in IRUK Top500 research and best known for its Warhammer tabletop game, reported revenues of £108.9m in the six months to November 26, up from £70.9m a year earlier – a rise of 54%. Pre-tax profits of £38.8m grew by more than 180% from £13.8m a year earlier. The growth, it said, came following a strategy of engaging closely with customers over a variety of channels.



Online sales reached £21.3m from £12.4m last time, a rise of 71%. "We continue to improve the online store shopping experience and functionality of the store," the retailer said in its half-year results. "Our new games-workshop.com homepage, our email newsletters and the personalisation of page content and navigation through our range online remain an area of focus."



Retail sales of £39.3m were up by 35% from £29.2m a year earlier, and trade sales of £48m were up 63% from £29.3m. The retailer also saw sales of its digital titles through Apple grow by 22% and it also launched onto Amazon and Audible.



The growth, said Games Workshop, was achieved as it focused on talking to customers in its global community. Over the last six months it doubled the number of customers engaging with it on social media.



That engagement has included daily content for its Warhammer titles, including at least one video a day and the development of new brand content sites alongside its warhammer-community.com site. Its content had 16.3m views from 2.5m users over the last six months, an increase that it said showed "no sign of stopping".



Kevin Rountree, chief executive of Games Workshop , said: "Our business and our Warhammer Hobby are in great shape.



"We are pleased to report record sales and profit levels in the period. It is encouraging that sales and profit growth continue across all regions and channels. Given the high levels of operational gearing and our relentless management of our costs, our improving sales performance has translated into record profit and cash levels.



"Our sales for the month of December have also shown good growth trends."



He added that the retailer's feet remained on the ground and said customers remained the focus of its business.