Last checked at 20 Jan 2023 07:00
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 4 as it forms part of UK domestic law pursuant to the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) regulations (SI 2019/310) ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
THE CHARACTER GROUP PLC
("Character", the "Company" or the "Group")
Designers, developers and international distributor of toys, games, and giftware
Trading Update
London: Friday, 20 January 2023: The Character Group (AIM: CCT) will be holding its Annual General Meeting today at 11.00am. Ahead of this, the Group provides the following update:
As we highlighted in our Annual results announcement on 22 December 2022, trading conditions across all the Group's markets have remained challenging, with revenue for the four months to 31 December 2022 down approximately 42% against the comparative period in 2021, with USA sales showing a marked drop.
The Group has a strong product portfolio of both in-house developed and distributed products and our customers have shown great enthusiasm for our offering at previews. With innovative and exciting new brand concepts, additions and extensions being unveiled at the London Toy Fair next week (24 - 26 January), we are very encouraged and expect similar reactions from the market to our enlarged portfolio over the coming months.
Despite the tough and challenging start to the current financial year, the Board remains optimistic that the anticipated rebound will come through strongly in the second half. Accordingly, the Company shall be profitable for the financial year as a whole, however, sales and profit before tax (before highlighted items) are expected to be marginally below current market expectations.
We will update shareholders further on the market and our progress at the time of the interim results, which are scheduled to be released in May 2023.
The Character Group plc
FTSE sector: leisure goods:
FTSE AIM All-share: symbol: CCT
Market cap: £80m
Email: info@charactergroup.plc.uk
Group website: www.thecharacter.com
Product ranges can also be viewed at www.character-online.co.uk
CHARACTER GROUP PLC CCT Stock | London Stock Exchange
Enquiries to: The Character Group plc Jon Diver, Joint Managing Director Kiran Shah, Joint Managing Director & Group Finance Director Office: +44 (0) 208 329 3377 Mobile: +44 (0) 7831 802219 (JD) Mobile: +44 (0) 7956 278522 (KS) | ||
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Panmure Gordon (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) Atholl Tweedie, Investment Banking Rupert Dearden, Corporate Broking Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500 | ||
Allenby Capital Limited (Joint Broker) Nick Athanas, Corporate Finance Amrit Nahal, Sales & Corporate Broking Tel: +44 (0) 20 3328 5656 | ||
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TooleyStreet Communications Limited (Investor and media relations) Fiona Tooley Tel: +44 (0) 7785 703523 Email: fiona@tooleystreet.com
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