Character Group PLC Trading Update (7589J)
14 September 2016 - 7:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMCCT
RNS Number : 7589J
Character Group PLC
14 September 2016
Wednesday, 14 September 2016
The Character Group plc
("Company" or "Group")
Designers, developers and international distributor of toys,
games and giftware
Trading update
The Directors are pleased to report that solid progress
continues to be made and the Board expects to deliver results for
the year ended 31 August 2016 that will meet market
expectations.
The Group's portfolio continues to be derived from
own-developed, in-house ranges, including those produced 'under
licence' and others sourced through exclusive distribution
agreements. All our major product ranges have performed well. We
are very fortunate to continue to have strength and depth across
our brands, coupled with a high number of long established customer
and supplier relationships.
A recent extension to our portfolio is the iconic Stretch
Armstrong; this range, produced under a master license agreement
from Hasbro, is marketed and sold on a global basis. Sales in both
the UK and international markets have started extremely well and we
are currently developing a wider range of interesting products
within the brand.
Another exciting new product range launched recently is Twozies
(a girls' collectable item). Early results are very promising, and
the Board is confident that Twozies will become one of our Top10
brands in 2017.
A significant proportion of the Company's purchases are made in
U$ dollars and, therefore, the increasing strength of the US$
against GBPSterling continues to put pressure on Group
profitability. Nevertheless, the Board remains of the view that it
can continue to mitigate the resulting increased costs. This is
being achieved through the expansion of our international business,
which generates revenue and profit in US$'s, and by our continuing
active programme of monitoring all costs and rationalising
operations where possible through increased efficiencies.
The Balance sheet continues to strengthen, working capital has
been tightly managed, there is no long-term debt and the business
continues to generate cash.
Against this backdrop, the Directors remain confident that the
Group shall continue to deliver progressive returns which will
further enhance shareholder value. The Board looks forward to
updating shareholders further when preliminary results are
announced in early December.
Prior to its release, certain of the information contained in
this announcement was considered by the Company to be inside
information, for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Market Abuse
Regulation 596/2014.
Enquiries:
The Character Group plc
Jon Diver, Joint Managing Director
Kiran Shah, Joint Managing Director
Mark Dowding, Group Finance Director and Company Secretary
Office: +44 (0) 208 329 3377
Mobile: +44 (0) 7831 802219 (JD)
Mobile: +44 (0) 7956 278522 (KS)
Mobile: +44 (0) 7967 185269 (MD)
Email: info@charactergroup.plc.uk
FTSE sector: leisure:
FTSE AiM All-share: symbol: CCT.L:
Market cap: GBP101.5 million
Panmure Gordon (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)
Andrew Godber, Investment Banking
Tom Salvesen, Corporate Broking
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
Allenby Capital Limited (Joint Broker]
Nick Athanas
Katrina Perez
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3328 5656
TooleyStreet Communications Limited (Investor and media
relations)
Fiona Tooley
Tel: +44 (0) 7785 703523
Email: fiona@tooleystreet.com
Copies of this statement can be viewed at www.thecharacter.com
Product ranges can be viewed at www.character-online.co.uk
Product names in italics represent copyright or registered
trademarks.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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September 14, 2016 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)