Character Group PLC
17 December 2007
Issued by Citigate Dewe Rogerson Ltd, Birmingham
Date: Monday, 17 December 2007 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Character Group plc
Current Trading Update
The Board of The Character Group plc ('Group' or 'Company') provides the
following update to shareholders in relation to trading in the final run up to
Christmas.
The Directors have noted that retail sales for Christmas 2007 started late and
that the market has not recovered from this belated seasonal start. The current
difficult trading environment has resulted in toy retail consumer sales being
slower than anticipated and consequently, lower than budgeted levels of stock
replenishment orders have been received by the Company from its customers.
Against the backdrop of these unusually difficult trading conditions, coupled
with the lost sales of Bindeez products and the Group's recent product recall
already reported (viewed by the Board as a one off impact), the Company is
taking a more cautious view on revenue outcome for the first half of the current
financial year. The Directors therefore expect that revenues for the four months
to 31 December 2007 will be down by approximately 18% on the same period last
year.
As a major UK supplier, the Group is not immune to the effects of faltering
consumer confidence and this view seems to be supported by the heavy discounting
occurring on the high street. Whilst the trading situation is disappointing to
report, overall the Board continues to be encouraged by the growth in its
brands.
Currently, the Group's 2008 product range is being previewed by the major
retailers. To date, there has been a very positive reaction to the new product
portfolio and therefore the Directors expect revenue growth in the second half
of the current financial year ending 31 August 2008 to be ahead of the same
period in 2007.
Enquiries:
Fiona Tooley, Director
Kiran Shah, Group Finance Director & Joint MD Keith Gabriel, Senior Account Manager
The Character Group plc Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8949 5898 Tel: +44 (0) 121 455 8370
Mobile: +44 (0) 7956 278522 (KS) Mobile: +44 (0) 7785 703523 (FMT)
www.thecharacter.com
www.character-online.co.uk
Richard Thompson
Philip Davies
Charles Stanley Securities
Nominated Adviser
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7149 6000
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.