Character Regulatory News (CCT)

6 Oct 2005 07:01

Character Group PLC06 October 2005 Issued by Citigate Dewe RogersonDate: Thursday 6th October 2005 Embargoed: 7.00am The Character Group plc Character ranges in listings for Christmas The Character Group ("Character") is pleased to announce that, at Dream Toy2005, The Toy Retailers Association ("TRA") has placed Character's Roboraptor inits Hot Dozen for Christmas 2005 listing. Also, within the individual category listings announced by the TRA, Character'sranges tipped for success were: Pre-School - Peppa Pig PlayhouseBoys - Stretch HomerBig Kidz - Dr Who's DalekGames - Electronic Sudoko See www.toyretailersassociation.co.uk for further details on Dream Toy 2005. This follows on from Dream Toy 2004 where Robosapien first came to prominenceand went on to become "2004 Toy of the Year". Richard King, Chairman, The Character Group commented:"We are delighted that our ranges have appeared so strongly across the toylistings for Christmas. "We have worked very hard over the last few years to produce a range of productsthat meet the ever changing needs and wants of young people and today, our Toys,Games and Gift Division has a strong product line up with over 50% of its rangehaving been designed and developed in-house and this includes both the Dalek andthe electronic Sudoku devices. "We are delighted to note that our Dr Who toys are already becoming verysuccessful at retail. In Amazon UK's current top selling toy list, we have theradio controlled Dalek, the sonic screwdriver, the Tardis talking money box andthe mini radio controlled battle pack all listed in the Top 15 of its 100 bestselling toy list, with both the Dalek and the Sonic screwdriver being featuredin the Top 5. "This is a great start and we believe that this category will become even moresuccessful next year when the new Dr Who series is scheduled to be broadcast". Jon Diver, Character's Head of Marketing added:"The signs are promising that Roboraptor may even follow in the footsteps ofRobosapien, last year's Top Toy of the Year and we are delighted that we havemade such a strong showing overall. We are very hopeful that Roboraptor, theDalek and Sudoku will all be high in the list of best selling toys thisChristmas". Enquiries:Richard King, ChairmanThe Character Group plcTel: +44 (0) 20 8949 5898www.thecharacter.com (City/Investor Relations)Fiona Tooley, Citigate Dewe RogersonTel: +44 (0) 121 455 8370 (Trade PR)Claire Sawkins or Andrea Jack, So-PRTel: +44 (0) 1937 588988 Editor's Notes:The Roboraptor is the first second generation remote controlled robot from thesame family as last year's Toy of the Year, Robosapien, which sold in excess of1 million units worldwide. Invented by ex-NASA scientist, Dr Mark Tilden, the32-inch robotic raptor beast has already won Toy of the Year in Australia andNorway and was voted top toy for 8-10 yr olds by the Duracell European ToySurvey. With the Doctor Who series averaging approx 10 million viewers each week, theDalek is an equal favourite. Not only does the 12" remote controlled adversaryhave all the gadgets, gizmos and phrases of its real-life counterpart, salesorders indicate that demand is outstripping any other contender for best sellingtoy on the market. Carol Vorderman's Sudoku hand-held LCD games. Perfect for Sudoku fanatics on themove, Character, through its trading subsidiary Character Options has partneredwith Carol Vorderman to launch two handy, pocket size Sudoku products: ahand-held LCD game with over 750 grids, and a touch screen version with over100,000 permutations of the game. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange