Game group expecting weaker sales

Video games and consoles retailer Game Group today said sales would decline throughout 2010 as it turned to a former Vodafone boss to help revive its fortunes.

Game Group, which is battling a “challenging” market and fierce competition, saw like for like sales fall 12.3% in the 19 weeks to June 12 and said sales would stay in the red for the rest of the year.

Despite new games releases including Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the highly-cyclical sector is currently in a trough and hardware sales fell 33% year on year mainly due to lower Nintendo sales.

Game has appointed the former consumer director of Vodafone, Ian Shepherd, as its new chief executive following the sudden departure of former boss Lisa Morgan in April.

The firm said Mr Shepherd – whose previous responsibilities included Vodafone’s 400-strong retail chain – had a “proven track record” in building brands and customer relationships.

Game said it had outperformed the struggling market although in the UK and Ireland, where the group has 641 stores, like-for-like sales were down 17.2%