REG - Character Group PLC - Trading Update

CharacterAnnouncement

17/01/2020 07:05

RNS Number : 1030A
Character Group PLC
17 January 2020
 


 
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information
stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.  Upon the publication of this announcement via
the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
 
 
LONDON: Friday, 17 January 2020
 
 
THE CHARACTER GROUP PLC
("Character", "Group" or "Company")
 
Designers, developers and international distributor of toys, games and giftware
 
Trading Update
 
 
Ahead of the Group's Annual General Meeting being held today (17 January at 11.00hrs), Character provides the following trading update:
 
The 2019 Christmas trading period was extremely challenging with the total toy market in the UK contracting for the second successive year, and those conditions will impact our results for the first half of the financial year.  Sales of our core products were down against the comparable period last year.  Nevertheless they performed well with good sell through at retail in the UK.   
 
We enter the 2020 calendar year with a very strong product portfolio and, although the first half results will be below last year, we anticipate that the Group will deliver one of our strongest second half performances to date.  Our confidence for the second half has been boosted by the reactions from our customers to recent product previews and presentations.  With further viewing opportunities and product launches planned for the London Toy Fair, which takes place next week at Olympia, we expect the momentum to continue.
 
Despite the anticipated strong finish to the current financial year, the weakened Christmas performance has led the Board to believe that the Group's profit before tax for the year ending 31 August 2020 will be circa £10m, which is lower than current consensus expectations.
 
The Board looks forward to updating shareholders at the time of the publication of its interim results in early May.
 
 









The Character Group plc
FTSE sector:  leisure goods:
FTSE AIM All-share: symbol: CCT.L
Market cap: £81m
 
Email:  info@charactergroup.plc.uk
Group website: www.thecharacter.com 




Product ranges can also be viewed at www.character-online.co.uk
To find out more about PROXY, please visit the website at https://www.proxyas.com.



 



ENQUIRIES TO:
The Character Group plc
Richard King, Non-Executive Chairman
Kiran Shah, Joint Managing Director & Group Finance Director
Jon Diver, Joint Managing Director
 




Office:      +44 (0) 208 329 3377
Mobile:    +44 (0) 7956 278522 (KS)
Mobile:    +44 (0) 7831 802219 (JD)
 










Panmure Gordon
(Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)
Atholl Tweedie, Investment Banking
Charles Leigh-Pemberton, Corporate Broking
Tel:  +44 (0) 20 7886 2500










Allenby Capital Limited
(Joint Broker)
Nick Athanas
Tel:  +44 (0) 20 3328 5656










TooleyStreet Communications Limited
(Investor and media relations)
Fiona Tooley
Tel:  +44 (0) 7785 703523
Email: fiona@tooleystreet.com
 










Evolution PR
(Trade and consumer media)
Michele Bates
Tel: +44 (0) 01327 227010
Email: Michele@evolution-pr.co.uk









 




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