Character confident despite expected second half slowdown

Toys and giftware distributor Character Group announced a strong rise revenue for the half year ended to 28th February but is bracing itself for a slowdown in sales in the second half. Profit before tax rose 78% to £6.64m from £3.73m the year before on sales that rose 34.7% to £6.64m from £43.1m a year earlier.Earnings per share rose even more, by 98%, to 20.28 pence. The company, best known for licensing characters such as Doctor Who and Peppa Pig, sought to temper market expectations regarding its outlook by reminding investors of "the current difficulties" at the retail level, the apparent reason for the anticipated "slowdown in sales in the second half". The company expects, however, to further increase its market share and sees no reason to alter current market expectations regarding its full year performance.Current market consensus is for full year pre-tax profit of £9m on sales of £95.5m.Sales in the reporting period were affected by the pre-Christmas adverse weather conditions. During the half year the company bought back 2.89m ordinary shares, at a cost of £4.95m, with carte blanche to buy back up to a 5.6m more. "Our strategy remains to seek out and develop exciting products which meet domestic and international market demand. These will come from either from our own portfolio which has been developed in-house or those produced in partnership under licence or through distribution agreements," said executive chairman, Richard King.Character Group has announced a 50% increase in its interim dividend, to 3.00 pence.---ab