Games Workshop Group PLC (LON:GAW) announced a surprise dividend of 45p per share late on Wednesday afternoon and issued a brief trading update.
The Warhammer table-top game company said the payment, which is in line with its policy of distributing "truly surplus cash", will be paid at the end of next month.
With the majority of its UK and European retail stores closed due to COVID-19 restrictions and distribution disruptions, trading in the three months to the end of February 2021 had been in line with expectations, the FTSE 250 company said.
It intends to issue a trading update for the year to 30 May 2021 in June, it added.
The shares fell 8% on Wednesday post the announcement and almost another 1% to 9,380p in early Thursday deals.
"Presumably some were expecting more, but we saw the update as positive given the current restrictions and as the dividend was higher than forecast," said broker Peel Hunt on Thursday.
"We see this as a good opportunity given the number of initiatives currently in place to improve and broaden the hobby," the analysts added, maintaining their 'buy' rating and 12,500p target price.