GAME Acquires Australian Retailer

Officials from British based video games retailer GAME have announced that the company has acquired Australian retail chain The Games Wizards in a deal worth £1.5 million (US$2.82m). The Games Wizards is based in Sydney and comprises fourteen company owned stores and eight franchises. In business for over ten years, the retailer reported sales of AU$19.7 million (US$14.9m) and losses of AU$1.6 million (US$1.2m) in its last financial year, ended June 30th. GAME intends to use £0.4 million of its acquisition fee in reinvestment over a period of eighteen months, with plans for a rollout of the business that will see continued losses over the medium term. "Australia is an attractive games market with good growth dynamics and offers the potential to develop our international business further alongside our existing growth plans," said CEO Martin Long. "The acquisition of TGW provides the group with an established business and a low cost entry to this important market. The specialist video games retail sector is already well established and in terms of software revenue Australasia is larger than Spain, Italy, Benelux and the Nordic region," added Long.