Character Share Discussion Threads

[rcturner2] 11/10/2017 14:28

It may be that the FD could see things about to go down the toilet and couldn't face up to it. Hence he went AWOL.

[sketchley] 11/10/2017 14:27

Not sure of the legalities around it, and it may seem a bit cynical, but it must be a good day for the company to buy back as many shares as possible. We shall see

[fido] 11/10/2017 14:19

martinthebrave,
Not de ramping at all. I had high hopes for Character as everyone on this board knows but those hopes were for international growth and on that score problems were flagged up some time ago and have now been confirmed.
In my opinion the risk is now weighted to the downside but I wish those who choose to hold the very best of luck.

[martinthebrave] 11/10/2017 14:02

fido

I don't normally criticise fellow posters but I will make an exception with your latest post.
1/ We have already been told that the FD leaving has nothing to do with Trading.
2/ You seem to be aware of "more bad news to come". Are you on the BOD or purely de-ramping?
3/ CCT has £20m in Cash, almost a quarter of its Market Cap. Hardly a problem if interest rates rise - which they are likely to do on both sides of the Atlantic.
4/ The BOD can hardly be accountable for one of its USA customers entering Chapter 11?
5/ You invested for International sales. Well, you need to know that CCT is an Income stock & today we were told that the Dividend will be protected.
I intend to hold for the recovery which should be within a few months time.

[fido] 11/10/2017 12:03

You could trade the bounce on the day but no more than that.
I believe there to be more bad news to come leading to more downside in the near term.
The real reason the FD was frogmarched out the door is yet to come out.
It is not just Toys R Us that is the issue but the toy retail sector in general and with interest rates rising around the world this will compound the issue.
I sold out at £5.36 when Character said that their American sales were dissapointing. It was these international sales that I had been invested for and Character have now confirmed that it is international sales that have taken a hit.
Happy to be out at £5.36 but see this heading sub £3.00 in the months ahead as full details emerge.

[twistednik] 11/10/2017 10:57

Although the decent divi (especially for yield hunters) may put a floor on the price. I'll watch with interest and may take a small position if it reaches 'bargain' territory.

[twistednik] 11/10/2017 10:50

"significantly below current market estimates" without quantifying leaves a lot open to interpretation !

Is this a top-up opportunity? Ahead of the key Christmas season, and with this uncertainty (market hates uncertainty!) it would be brave to buy in now.

It's difficult to know whether the Toy r Us impact is only temporary or if there has been a shift in the market (in terms of buying practices) which would lead to a longer term effect on profitability.

Leaving emotions out of it, can't help thinking the best course of action is 'wait and see'. Even if you have to pay a higher price, seeing some figures and further background behind the drop, and getting a better steer on the future outlook before buying back in would be sensible IMHO. There is a risk that this rumbles on for a while and may lead to a further warning...

p.s. not invested but on the watchlist.

[bookbroker] 11/10/2017 10:47

There look to be gaps back to £2.00 nearly, it is a good company but the business with Toys R Us is a tough nut to crack for Character, even if a relatively small proportion of business overall, had a cracking run from 2014, it used to be up and down, held it in the early days of being a listed co., do the double digit days, survived pretty well through the years nonetheless!

[runthejoules] 11/10/2017 10:47

It could be saucepan, but I'd take 'expect' to mean in legalese they don't have any indication Christmas orders will be bad - semantics I know and if they were lying there would not necessarily be any comeback on AIM but they seem to have been quite good at staying within the rules so far. Anyway, so far you have been right to stay on the sidelines Saucepan. Fools rush in, etc. Could have been out of here with a small profit just after the Pokemon news if I'd stuck to my own new cautious rules so only myself to blame. Better luck with your investments than I'v ehad. Think I'll stick to tech in future. Looks like the corporeal world has had it ;-)

[saucepan] 11/10/2017 09:52

Yes, but they possibly know what firm orders they have for Christmas stock!

However, let's agree to differ. I was simply wishing to flag that I see that as a vulnerable area for a further profit warning.

[runthejoules] 11/10/2017 09:47

They can't confirm anything as Christmas hasn't happened yet! It could be great or awful, depends on the economy!

Well, I'm maxed out in my ISA but I may start a small spread bet with a stop loss below this point in case of worse news/ww3/Brexit.

[saucepan] 11/10/2017 09:36

touche, runthejoules :-)

"confirm" as opposed to "promise", might have been a better choice of word.

[stoxx67] 11/10/2017 09:26

Board really have messed up here.

the Board have sold away their stock using buy backs for Years without actually achieving a great deal, and now this.

i really did like this company a few Years ago, but seems to be well and truly tarnished now.

have removed from my watchlist as if one can not place a modicum of trust in BOD , then why invest?

[runthejoules] 11/10/2017 09:13

To be fair saucepan, when was the last time you read the word 'promise' in an RNS, except as a noun?

You're right of course on the chart and I should have just got stopped out in profit. Not for the first time, the dividends and lack of liquidity meant I didn't put a stop on, which was wrong. In investment it's often best to imagine there is no dividend.

Next time the CFO leaves in anything other than retirement circumstances I will GTFO.

[saucepan] 11/10/2017 09:04

A few observations from a neutral observer (I have had CCT on watch, but not been convinced to buy back. I have held in the past):

"we expect . . . our Christmas stocks to remain under control". They expect, but are not promising. I think that now remains a greater risk. I seem to recall they had that kind of problem some years ago. It does not do any harm to be mindful of the old stock market adage that "profit warnings come in threes". I would not be surprised to see another.

There is no excuse for issuing this RNS at 8am, rather than at 7am.

The chart was indicating that all was not well (the main reason I was not convinced to buy back in). For people who dismiss technical analysis, there is a lesson here.

[runthejoules] 11/10/2017 08:31

I'm 25% down, commiserations to those who topped up yesterday, congrats to those who stopped out / waited for news in this seemingly-leaky stock how about everyone else?

It could be worse. Wait a year and we'll get our money back I suppose. The fear is always worse than the reality.

"The single biggest factor underpinning our optimism is that during 2018 we shall be introducing exceptionally exciting new products, many developed in-house which, together with the current product portfolio will, the Directors believe, give the Group its strongest ever product line up.

Additionally, even in these tough trading conditions, we expect our cash flow to remain positive, our reserves to grow, and our Christmas stocks to remain under control.

Furthermore, we are committed to maintaining our progressive dividend policy and continuing our share buy-back programme, as and when considered appropriate."

[mip55] 11/10/2017 08:10

At this early stage of the Group's new financial year the Board consider that, based on the latest sales and market data available to them, the Group's performance for the year ending 31 August 2018 is now expected to be significantly below current market estimates

[dan_the_epic] 10/10/2017 19:56

Stunning purchase; nice one elmfield.

[elmfield] 10/10/2017 19:49

Toys are toys,
You may say cheap but my first buy here was at 33p,
That was cheap!

[dan_the_epic] 10/10/2017 19:30

Took a moment earlier for me to realise I was at my point of maximum pessimism before I bought back in. I had started to consider there being events 'behind the scenes' as making this valuation fair. When you start to do think like that, you probably shouldn't be in the market. There is a certain amount of taking what directors say at face value, and they have been pretty honest in that last trading update, despite me thinking at the time, that Toys r Us was a tiny issue anyway

TRU North America is like 3% of sales

Interesting data out also:

Pokemon should be a big winner here.I talked before about how they have many levers to pull. They still have all those, whether than be a special divi or using cash to do some acquisition to diversify and step scale the business.

Glad to have these back in the bottom drawer. No stop this time so lets see what happens.

[martinthebrave] 10/10/2017 17:48

Bought in today 434p. Down 105p to key historic resistance 435p. FD leaving + US Toys 'R Us issue don't merit overdone fall IMO. Loads of Cash, Low PE & Xmas trading sounds positive.👍

[deanowls] 10/10/2017 16:32

Also topped up, well overweight now. Are they in closed period or are they able to buy back