Major New Toy Licence

Character Group PLC 29 January 2008 Issued by Citigate Dewe Rogerson Ltd, Birmingham Date: Tuesday, 29 January 2008 Embargoed: 7.00am The Character Group plc Major New Toy Licence secured for Hannah Montana Products to be unveiled tomorrow at The UK Toy Fair The Character Group is pleased to announce that its principal trading subsidiary Character Options Limited ('Character Options') has secured a major new toy licence with The Walt Disney Company Limited ('Disney') in relation to the highly successful Disney Channel television series, Hannah Montana, which has just finished airing on the Channel Five and continues to air on the Disney Channel daily. The Disney rights with Character Options will initially cover the UK and Eire territories and will allow the Group to manufacture and distribute a wide range of products which include a digital range of wireless and karaoke microphones and interactive MP3 & Karaoke systems, MP3 Sound system, Digitone watches and a range of cosmetic accessories. Starring Miley Cyrus, and her father Billy Ray Cyrus (the 1980's country music star of hit 'Achey, Breaky Heart' fame), Hannah Montana follows the daily life of Miley Stewart, a 14-year-old who lives in Malibu with her older brother and widowed father. A normal girl by day, unbeknown to her friends, Miley lives a double life as pop star Hannah Montana, keeping her identity a secret. Richard King, Chairman The Character Group commented: 'We are very pleased to have secured the rights to Hannah Montana. This is a very popular series aimed at 'tweenagers' who love music and fashion. We are confident that our range of products which has been developed in-house and will be unveiled at tomorrow's UK Toy Fair at Excel London, will meet the demands of both the retailer and the consumer. We look forward to launching the full range of Hannah Montana products and expect to enjoy the benefit of the sales from this great girls brand through to Christmas and beyond.' Hannah Montana smashed all records when it premiered in the UK on 5 May 2006, making it the best live action series launch ever on Disney Channel. The show is currently Disney Channel's Number 1 UK live action show. The show premiered in the United States to the highest series ratings in the channel's history with a staggering 5.4 million viewers and has become the Number 1 cable show amongst tweens. Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds is the first TV series soundtrack to debut at Number 1 on the Billboard Top 200. In the UK, it was the first TV soundtrack to achieve pole position since High School Musical topped the charts in 2006, achieving Gold in the UK and Platinum in Ireland. Enquiries: Richard King, Executive Chairman Kiran Shah, Group Finance Director & Joint MD Fiona Tooley, Director 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) +44 (0) 7836 250150 (RK) 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
UK 100