Trading Update

Character Group PLC 16 January 2008 Issued by Citigate Dewe Rogerson Ltd, Birmingham Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2008 Embargoed 7.00am The Character Group plc The Board of The Character Group plc ('Group' or 'Character') provides the following update to the market prior to the Annual General Meeting scheduled for 11.00am today, Wednesday 16 January 2008: 'BACK ON TRACK' Trading Update The Group, as a major UK toys and games supplier is not immune to the effects of faltering consumer confidence and, as forecast in our statement on 17 December 2007, trading to Christmas was disappointing as a result of both the poor and well publicised retail trading environment as well as the lost sales and cost of the recall of Bindeez product. The Group has weathered these problems and, despite the poor trading results expected for the first half of the current financial year, the Board anticipates substantial revenue growth for the second half against the same period for 2007. The Group has come through this difficult trading period with a strong balance sheet and is today totally ungeared despite having bought back approximately 1.4 million Character shares in this financial year. The Group has the capacity for further substantial buy-backs, if deemed appropriate by the Board, as well as sufficient resources to fund further expansion. The general reaction by our major customers to our new product portfolio has been both positive and pleasing and we are looking forward to exhibiting at the London Toy Fair later this month. Despite acknowledging that trading conditions are likely to remain testing for some time, we believe that we are now back on track and are looking for revenue growth for the second half of the financial year and for the calendar year as a whole. Accordingly, the Board is comfortable with the current market expectations for the 2008 financial year. 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) 207149 6000 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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