Computer games retailer Game PLC, with head offices in Basingstoke, said a strong market and a raft of hit games releases had helped it beat expectations in the first half of the year.

The firm said it was “slightly ahead” of hopes thanks to new titles including Grand Theft Auto IV and Nintendo’s Wii Fit. Other big sellers for the company included Mario Kart and Metal Gear Solid 4.

Demand for consoles also shows no sign of wavering, the group added, as UK like-for-like sales rose 28.1% in the 22 weeks to June 28.

Although Basingstoke-based Game said the quality of the games released during the first half of 2008 was “unprecedented”, it remained confident over Christmas trading.Chairman Peter Lewis said the group “recognised the challenges of the wider economic environment”, but has improved its margins and expects profits for the six months to July 31 to be no less than £33 million.

The company, which bought rival Gamestation last year, said it was continuing with its roll-out of new stores despite the difficult climate and investing £42 million on capital expenditure.

The group currently has 668 stores in the UK and Ireland, but most of the 60 stores to be opened by the end of the year will be overseas as part of its international growth strategy.

Source Press Association

Website: Game Group PLC

Basingstoke shopfitters, Routledge and Young, took the Gold prize for “Best Supermarket and Food Project of the year 2008″ for the second year in a row at this years Shopfitting and Display Industry Awards held on June 18th.

The award was to mark the company’s work at Tesco Nailsea, a project completed in the early part of 2008 and comes hot on the heels of their 2007 award for Somerfield Broadstone, a market fresh concept.

Karen Routledge, Business Development Manager said:

What an achievement, two years in a row, and for two of our largest clients, we are delighted.

Now all of the celebrations have calmed down though, it’s back to the hard work of performing well for another entry for next year. After all you’re only ever as good as your last job and luckily for us, ours comes with the title of ‘Best Supermarket and Food Project of the year’. It would be great to get three in a row!

Richard Routledge, Contracts Director of R&Y  and Lorraine O’Sullivan, Development Manager at Tesco collect the award.

Kind-hearted Early Learning Centre, of The Malls, Basingstoke, came to the aid of of a local children’s nursery recently with a gift of over £200 worth of toys, following a raid in May.

The Hatchlings Nursery, in Worting Road, had most of its outdoor toys stolen. Katy Stubbington, sales manager at the Basingstoke shop, was reading an article in The Basingstoke Gazette, about the theft, and persuaded her bosses to help out. (more…)

The Basingstoke Gazette reports this morning on intended plans to push forward the redevelopment of The Malls Shopping Centre in Basingstoke town centre.

The centre, which has constant speculation regarding redevelopment, has recently attracted some large names, including Primark, to sit alongside the success of Festival Place, which opened in 2002.

Newly elected Councillor, Andrew Finney, is behind the scheme, and keen to push the major stakeholders, Property company St Modwen, but the local council has concerns that St Modwen is not properly involved in the project.

Cllr Finney indicated St Modwen bosses are unwilling to invest the funds needed for a major rebuild of the centre. He said: “They’re content to hold the investment in The Malls in the form they currently hold it and they are generating the level of return they would want from The Malls in the current climate.”

But he added: “We are confident we are going to get more out of them.”

Basingstoke-based Game Group this morning reported like-for-like sales for the UK and Ireland up by 30.3 per cent in the 6 week period ended on 12 January, on international like-for-like sales up 35.4 per cent.

Like-for-like sales in the 50 week period ended 12 January were up by 41.7 per cent.

Game said its customer demographics are changing, with more women and mature gamers buying products than ever before.

The current range and quality of products in the market is unprecedented. We are confident that consumer demand for our products will remain strong as we approach the March anniversary of the launch of the Sony PS3, and that the supply of the Nintendo Wii and DS Lite consoles will continue to improve.

via Retail Bulletin

GAME Group, the Basingstoke based PC and video game retailer, is set to smash profit expectations after a surge in demand for Nintendo DS and Wii games.

The company announced that sales continued to soar since it last updated the market on 11 December, when it reported a 44 per cent surge in like-for-like sales.

Game said it now expected pre-tax profits before one-off costs to be at least £70 million for the year to the end of January, more than double the £29.5m reported the previous year.

The results will benefit from the recent acquisition of Gamestation. Game Group added 333 new stores to its portfolio in 2007, including 217 acquired through its takeover of Gamestation, bringing its total number of outlets to 1,150.

(ref. Scotsman)

Routledge and Young Shopfitters, based in Daneshill, have made the shortlist for Best Supermarket Project at the Shopfitting and Display Industry Awards 2007.

The project up for the award is the £600,000 refit of Somerfields Broadstone, which R&Y undertook during 2006, which included major upgrades and refurbishments.

Routledge & Young have been based in Basingstoke for 14 years and have a client list that includes Tesco, Oxfam, Somerfield and McDonalds, to name a few.

The team are delighted to be up for an award associated with Shopfitting and are hopeful to win. They are taking a large contingent to the award ceremony which takes places on June 13th 2007 at a Gala Dinner at The Grosvenor House Hotel.

Karen Skuce, Sales and Marketing Manager said,

It is great to be recognised by our industry awards and is testament to the hard work put in by all the team consistently. It would obviously make us even more proud to actually win this award against the other great projects.