Character Share Discussion Threads

[h1a3] 17/9/2015 20:16

From another site.

Thu 17 Sep 2015 17:15
RNS Number : 4415Z
Character Group PLC
17 September 2015

17 September 2015

The Character Group plc
("Character Group" or the "Company")

Director's share dealing


Character Group (AIM: CCT) announces it has recently undertaken a series of institutional investor meetings which were well received. In response to demand from institutional and other investors, Sarissa Holdings Limited (a company in which Kiran Shah, Group Finance Director and Joint Managing Director, has a beneficial interest) and Jon Diver (Group Marketing Director and Joint Managing Director) have agreed to make stock available to meet this demand.

The Company has today received notification that Jon Diver has exercised unapproved options in respect of a total of 750,000 Ordinary Shares of 5p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") held currently in treasury, at an exercise price of 187p per share. He has subsequently sold 600,000 of such Ordinary Shares in the market at a price of 510p per share.

Accordingly, 750,000 Ordinary Shares (the "Option Shares") were allotted to Jon Diver by the Company on 17 September 2015, to satisfy the option exercise. The Option Shares rank pari passu with the existing issued Ordinary Shares, and have been admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange plc.

In addition Sarissa Holdings Limited, has today sold 1,830,000 Ordinary Shares at a price of 510p per share.

For the purposes of the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, the total number of Ordinary Shares in issue as at the date of this notice (taking into account the issue of the Option Shares but excluding the remaining Ordinary Shares held in treasury) is 21,608,490 ("Revised Issued Voting Share Capital").

Following the above mentioned exercise of share options, the sale of Option Shares and the accompanying sale of Ordinary Shares, the interests of Kiran Shah and Jon Diver in the Revised Issued Voting Share Capital are as follows:


Director
Exercise of Share Options
Sale of Option Shares
Sale of Ordinary Shares
Directors' resulting interests
approx. % of Revised
Issued Voting
Share Capital
Kiran Shah1
-
-
1,830,000
2,287,001
10.58%
Jon Diver2
750,000
600,000
-
1,356,003
6.28%

Notes:
1. included in the interests of K.P. Shah are the interests of Sarissa Holdings Limited in 2,000,000 Ordinary Shares.
2. included in the interests of J.J. Diver are 551,867 Ordinary Shares held by Mr Diver's personal pension scheme;


Character Group holds 3,269,456 Ordinary Shares in treasury, representing approximately 15.13 per cent. of the Revised Issued Voting Share Capital, which do not carry voting rights.



The Character Group plc Tel: [phone]
Kiran Shah, Group Finance Director & Joint MD Ticker: AIM: CCT
Mark Dowding, Company Secretary

Panmure Gordon Tel: [phone]
Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker
Russell Cook
Tom Salvenson

Allenby Capital Limited Tel: [phone]
Joint Broker
Nick Athanas
Katrina Perez

Tooley Street Communications Tel: [phone]
IR & Media Relations
Fiona Tooley

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END


RDSSFDFMWFISEFU

[orange1] 17/9/2015 19:33

The fact that 4.7m shares were traded at 510p does not mean that all trades were sells. Some will have been sells and some buys imo. I queried before why Allenby had been appointed joint brokers. I think they will have been involved in today's dealings which almost certainly involved a director or directors selling out.

[mcartdon] 17/9/2015 19:31

Because opening the shares up to institutional investors and widening ownership will allow interested parties to see that all bets are on for expansion in the future. backing for fast change may be required,
Taking profits and widening personal interests is insurance for the directors, however the two directors retain 17m £ of shares,
One problem in the past has been controlling large holdings near 35%,
The company may wish to introduce new professional personnel suitable for a bigger business, and expand with institutional backing,those institutions want to share in the gains. and must be confident of the future at 5.10.
its a pity we haven't been shared the institutional information and plans.
However the price must represent fair value to the directors and to the institutions who must expect progress and further gains.

[firip] 17/9/2015 19:25

So almost 10% of the outstanding shares sold today to Institutional shareholders.It would have been nice to know which Institutions purchased the shares.

[cfro] 17/9/2015 18:20

Well, i don't think that is very good news at all. Of course, for every seller there are buyers and big Insti buyers at that and it is clear that there is huge demand for these shares.

However, if CCT does truly have massive international sales potential then why would the directors want to sell out at this 'early' time?!

Seems strange to me.

[buffythebuffoon] 17/9/2015 17:46

Do you really think a director could trade in shares at this time?

Buffy

[h1a3] 17/9/2015 17:41

4.7M sold. If it is KP Shah then that is a worry and does not bode well for the future. I wonder if current orders/sales are poor? Nervous times?
Let's hope we get an early update that provides a good and positive reason.

[orange1] 17/9/2015 16:26

Looks as thought it´s KP Shah/Sarissa Holdings which is selling out now.

[saucepan] 16/9/2015 15:25

Someone having to pay above the quoted offer for just 154 shares, I see. That suggests to me an up move is imminent.

[mcartdon] 15/9/2015 16:45

The wave of selling was a dribble, and now where are the buybacks to come from at this level? who will sell?

A dividend hike is on the cards this christmas, increasing the yield.

and the shares should appreciate as December approaches plus 15-20%.

anyone who sold is out of pocket already.

[saucepan] 15/9/2015 15:38

It looks to me like the chart has found strong support at 500p and is now turning back up again.

[buffythebuffoon] 10/9/2015 23:30

With an operating profit of 78p a share, and a capex of only 8p a share, CCT has plenty of cash to buy back shares and pay the dividend, which on a TTM is over 8 times covered.

I wasn't invested in CCT when the Star Wars setback occurred, and I don't know what there was to learn and be applied going forward, but I like what I see. CCT have clearly got a good reputation in the industry, and that never does any harm when tendering for licences.

Buffy

[fido] 10/9/2015 22:07

h1a3,
Teletubbies should be even bigger than when they were first released simply because they will be aired across a far greater number of media channels.

[mcartdon] 10/9/2015 19:10

The old shareholders who have been here so long me included need a takeover to cause us to sell, its hard to consider a fair price

[h1a3] 10/9/2015 18:57

Fido,
Ignore the jibes and keep up the excellent work.
I fully appreciate the info that you provide and also the 'trade' links and whilst I do not always agree with your thoughts, they do provide me with good information which I can consider.
I have been invested in CCT for many years, even participating in the rights issue at circa 30p after the Star Wars stock debacle!
Hopefully telebubbies will not be a similar story. I can recall the hype when they were launched, so I believe just a little similar success will be great for CCT and the share price
Look forward to further posts.

[gargleblaster] 10/9/2015 18:04

Okay Fido, its time to come clean. Are you in love with the company?? Are you a closet toy-lover? More importantly do you have rows of Teletubbies and Clangers in your bedroom? We need to know!

[fido] 10/9/2015 17:20

The £5.75 is 5p short of my next target of £5.80 based on UK sales.
The 35% increase in the dividend shows just how much cash this company throws off. The purchase of property and then the buyback of shares has absorbed some of this cash but with a BOD that is keen on maximising shareholder returns, the returns from worlwide sales is going to prove very appealing to income investors, if they can get their hands on the shares that is.
With the company set on buying back the shares, the returns for those who hold should be very good indeed.

[h1a3] 10/9/2015 15:40

See below a positive article written today by Simon Thompson of Investors Chroncile.

Running profits on a playful investment

Shares in the fourth largest distributor of toys in the UK, Character Group
Character Group PLC (CCT:LSE) (CCT:505p), hit my target price of 525p ahead of a pre-close trading update this week which confirmed the company will hit analysts expectations for the fiscal year to end-August 2015. Full-year pre-tax profits are forecast to jump by more than half to £11m, based on a 15 per cent rise in sales of £113m in the 12-month period. In turn, expect adjusted EPS to increase from 25.2p to 41.9p and support a 35 per cent hike in the divided to just shy of 9p a share. The financial results are due to be released in the first week of December so will make for a good read as should the update on current trading.

That's because I understand on the grapevine that there has been a positive reception to The Clangers toy range (launched in the UK in July), and the Clever Keet toy from Character's Little Live Pets range is being tipped by a number of industry commentators to become a Top 10 toy and a best seller over Christmas. Investors are also likely to focus on the re-launch of Teletubbies to our screens in January and the likely positive contribution from these ranges to Character's profits in the current financial year to end August 2016.

So with Character's shares rated on a reasonable 12 times' earnings for the fiscal year just ended, and offering a dividend yield north of 2 per cent, I feel there is scope for the share price rally to continue and take-out my 525p target price. Joint house broker Allenby Capital has a target price of 575p, or 15 per cent above the current share price. If you followed my previous advice to buy the shares ('Playtime', 1 June 2015) I would run your healthy profits.

[fido] 10/9/2015 12:34

According to NPD the sales of licensed toys in the UK are up by 13% this year and globally are on a rising trend.

[fido] 10/9/2015 10:23

With regard to payback on TV advertising I would disagree.
TV advertising is a tried and tested way of generating sales.

See page 71

[mcartdon] 10/9/2015 09:54

Dont seee picture of share staying at this price, only negative i can see is curency changes which are up and down, and value of euro sales in pounds.
christmas orders might have been stepped down a bit as the markets have hesitated and retail sales have lowered but the toy market is expanding with child numbers and family spend rising as people benefit from more money, with international sales expanding, the costs of that expansion may hit the bottom line but t/o will jump significantly this year as international sales develop.
In dec will be interesting to see who is right.

volume remains low not much to buy back few sellers .

[mickharkins1] 10/9/2015 09:45

Correct Orange1, a wise man once told me that it is a fact that 50% of marketing spend has been proven to be a complete waste of money...the difficulty is identifying which 50%!

[orange1] 10/9/2015 09:36

Worth pointing the obvious out as well: you can spend loads of money on marketing but it doesn´t follow that your bottom line will grow correspondingly.

[fido] 10/9/2015 08:25

mickharkins1,
While you may be right, it goes against all the media reports of late that talk of booming sales. I do agree however that Character are investing for future sales in the world market now which will show greater returns later, you only have to look at their marketing spend that has nearly tripled. The point remains though that that spend will have a return in increasing world sales.