Character Share Discussion Threads

[runthejoules] 12/12/2018 07:26

Another share buyback. Nice dependable elastic share, wish I'd bought more on recent dips.

[mcartdon] 06/12/2018 14:22

Diluted eps contains the shares issued to employees and directors but not exercised given by the company its ok but basic eps is really relevant to the point i make the company is hiving off half its profit to persons other than basic shareholders enabling the gifts, that encourages employees but the real point is do they deserve any options when the share price has been flat 5 years and the dividend is low.
why not share the company profit evenly and increase dividends and stop rewarding little progress. buy back the 3 million shares otherwise with the 15 m cash.to benefit allin one go

[simso] 29/11/2018 17:08

mccardon, I always look at Fully Diluted shares, as that is what matters. You are quoting Basic EPS.

[mcartdon] 29/11/2018 16:51

Weighted average number of ordinary shares used in the calculation of basic earnings per
share 22,398,806 2013 22,478,751 2012 not 25m from 2013 accounts

[simso] 29/11/2018 12:04

A few points in answer to mccartdon's point about "5% Divi return...but where is the rest?"

Firstly, they have consistently bought back shares over the last 6 years, and every year the FD Shares in issue are lower than the year before. In Aug 2012 we had 25,011k FD Shares, and by Aug 18 that was 21,403k...a total reduction of 15% in 6 years.

Secondly, the Balance Sheet has improved over that same time. At Aug 12 we had debt of £7.9m, and by Aug 18 this now stands at £15.6m Net Cash.

I was very happy with the numbers, and note that the second half 2018 was our best second half ever. We delivered 28p FD EPS in a traditionally weaker second half...and on that basis, a FY19 Forecast of 48p looks readily achievable.

[tkamp] 29/11/2018 09:22

Numbers are decent and show an inflection point has been reached. Now it's about continuing the good momentum and delivering several updates with top- and bottom-line growth.

[mcartdon] 29/11/2018 09:17

CASH GENERATION 15M. dividend 5 m. actual profit 12m
year after year, 15 m in cash, but where does the money go canceling just enough free shared for directors and staff to keep the same number of shares for 8 years.21 m
no benefit to shareholders. and .5% return when 7 needed. stationary share price.
pay dividends at 30 odd pence at least

[rimau1] 29/11/2018 08:07

Strong recovery in H2, trading on a cash adjusted PE of 10!

[deanowls] 29/11/2018 07:59

Great numbers this morning.

[zimbtrader] 21/11/2018 11:50

I've picked up a 1000 shares today. Happy with the last trading update so hoping this is simply a blip on the radar and we see a return to 500+ soon.

[dansaunders25] 21/11/2018 10:39

Good opportunity to buyback in do you think?

[simso] 20/11/2018 18:06

I have been adding, including today, so obviously jinxed it. I expect a strong update when Prelims Announced on Thursday of next week. We already know Y/E Aug 18 "Comfortably in line"...so a bit ahead of Brokers Forecasts. Even before the ToysRUS problems more than a Year ago, Management talked with great optimism about 2019, and having the best line up of toys in their history, including the new Pokemon Licence.

[zimbtrader] 20/11/2018 17:54

Little surprised by the drop today off nothing special as far as trades go. Have I missed something?

[simso] 31/10/2018 15:19

The Broker's Consensus is to make PBT of £12.1m to Aug 18, and we know we were "comfortably in line" with that...so expect a little higher. Having delivered only £4.5m in H1, damaged by Toys R us :-(, it does imply at least £7.6m for H2...which is our best ever second half, by far.

The second half is usually the weaker half, obviously with Christmas falling in H1...and the 7 year average is a 1H / 2H profit split of 56%/44%. If that 2H 18 number of £7.6m in the "weaker half" really is representative of current trading performance...then the recent Allenby Forecast of £12.8m for FY19 looks conservative and beatable. Furthermore, I note that Allenby have just increased that FY19 forecast from £12.8m to £13.5m in the light of the Danish Acquisition. A decent upgrade of £0.7m for something which can cost a max £3.3m.

If thats not positive enough, we have the new Pokemon launch. In April, Allenby said "The arrival of Pokemon this Summer is potentially significant for FY19".

All looks good to me.

[tkamp] 31/10/2018 09:05

@h1a3

The structure of the deal with the Danish company makes it very much like an option with a modest upfront premium. Down payment is very small and further payments will only be made if their performance accelerates. Can imagine there will be some cost synergies (mostly related to sourcing I imagine), maybe some revenue synergies too. All-in the current impact of the Danish deal remains to be seen as we have much too little information to really assess its attractiveness, but the downside seems limited, which means it's unlikely to be a (strong) negative.

All-in I'm feeling pretty good about CCT and have a sizeable position. The business has likely returned to growth again, valuation is low, balance sheet strong, operating leverage limited. While the upside on CCT is probably not, say, 100%+, I do think there is probably 30-50% upside with limited downside risk. With its decent dividend yield and current stock markets looking shaky I don't mind a whole lot having to wait for price to catch up to value.

[mcartdon] 31/10/2018 08:28

end november might increase the interest, but it would take a lot.

[h1a3] 30/10/2018 21:58

A very quiet board. Just curious if anyone has any recent views about CCT.
CCT have bought a holding in a Danish company to gain access to EU.
I had hoped that a USA toy company would be interested in taking them out.
Ah well, now back to playing the market.

[runthejoules] 01/10/2018 14:42

Ruffles seemingly keeping the price down at 500p but no less!

Could be due a pop when they've cleared, or stat range-bound till more results...

[richyst] 01/10/2018 13:00

Ah, very interesting. Thank you.

[tkamp] 01/10/2018 10:44

So if they expect to 'comfortably' meet expectations I imagine they'll get around 45p EPS for this year. The 50p forecast for next year reads a bit conservative to me since that would probably imply sales growth of less than 10% (some operating leverage). Also shares buying bought back will have raised that number by maybe 2-3%.

[orange1] 28/9/2018 21:13

Allenby Capital joint brokers to the company are forecasting EPS for 2018 of 43.6p. The figure for 2019 is 50.5p.

[richyst] 21/9/2018 17:15

What are the 'market expectations' and how does someone find this out?

[mcartdon] 19/9/2018 17:39

The spread is silly, and the market in the shares seems very slow, i guess they have a seller with a steady supply perhaps ruffer, at this level so an overhang the price is eventually going to take a step change perhaps after brexit ha ha.
only full news will get the share up for now.

[runthejoules] 19/9/2018 14:32

I see profit takers are out again, but with a biggish spread it's not worth it, continuin to hold as a low(er) risk investment