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LONDON (Alliance News) - Toy designer and distributor Character Group PLC hiked its interim dividend Thursday after its profit and revenue surged, saying its outlook remains upbeat.
For the six months ended February, pretax profit widened 24% to GBP5.6 million from GBP4.5 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 16% to GBP58.8 million from GBP50.5 million the year before.
"Character has delivered a strong first half performance and the directors remain optimistic about the progress the business will make over this calendar year and the important 2019/20 winter season," Character explained in a statement.
Character proposed a 13.00 pence per share interim dividend, up 18% from 11.00p a year prior.
"Generally, our market is rapidly changing from a standard toy market to a trend-led, fast-moving sector and we believe that we are in a great position, both in market share terms and in experience and agility, to exploit this changing environment," Character added. "We have made excellent progress and we are actively taking up opportunities, both at home and internationally, to deliver further fresh and new products, that meet demands of the market and that further enhance our portfolio."
"The political landscape is providing an unwelcome distraction for many businesses and the performance of the UK economy generally," Character continued. "Overall, trading remains encouraging and in line with management expectations and market consensus for the financial year and we look forward to updating on our progress later in the year."
Shares in Character Group were down 0.6% at 571.50 pence on Thursday.