Character Regulatory News (CCT)

17 Jan 2007 07:00

Character Group PLC17 January 2007 Issued by Citigate Dewe Rogerson Limited, BirminghamDate: Wednesday, 17 January 2007 Embargoed: 7.00am The Character Group plc ("the Group") Trading Update At the Group's Annual General Meeting, which is being held today (17 January2007) Richard King, Chairman will make the following statement to shareholders: "In the Group's Preliminary announcement for the year ended 31 August 2006issued in November 2006, I commented that the Directors were confident that 2007would be another good year for the Group. "I am therefore pleased to report that, for the first four months to 31 December2006 of the current financial year, sales from continuing operations were 35%ahead of the comparative period in 2005. "This growth to date in sales and profits reflects an outstanding performancefor the Group, especially as we continue to operate in a difficult period forretailers both in the UK and across Europe. "Our Doctor Who product line-up performed exceptionally well and it issatisfying to note that we experienced strong double digit growth in many of ourbrands. "Since the disposal of our digital business in February 2006, we have been ableto focus virtually all our efforts on the toys and games portfolio. This,together with our strategy of designing and developing products in-house, hasproven to be a major factor in the Group's growth since its restructure. Thisalso bodes very well for the future and the Directors believe that the Groupwill continue to further improve its revenues, productivity and efficiencies asit builds on its market position. This is especially important in the currenttrading environment where our customers are having very mixed trading resultsand where we need to continue to improve our internal operations in order to beable to preserve the basis for profitable growth. "I am also pleased to report that we have now presented our 2007 Christmasproduct range to our major trading partners. Without exception, we have receiveda strong overall response, which should lead to further growth throughout this2007 calendar year. "As our market share continues to grow, we have established ourselves as a majorsupplier in the UK and we believe we are well positioned to capitalise furtheron that position, whilst continuing to develop our international sales. "Given our sales to Christmas 2006, coupled with the positive reaction to ourcurrent product portfolio and the planned new introductions to our line-up whichwill be unveiled at the UK Toy Show being held at Excel in London next week, theDirectors continue to be confident that the Group remains on target to maintainits growth throughout 2007." Enquiries:Richard King, Chairman Fiona Tooley, Director Richard ThompsonKiran Shah, Group Finance Director & Joint MD Katie Dale, Senior Account Manager Philip DaviesThe Character Group plc Citigate Dewe Rogerson Charles Stanley SecuritiesToday: +44 (0) 207 638 9571 Mobile: +44 (0) 7785 703523 Tel: +44 (0) 20 7149 6000Tel: +44 (0) 20 8949 5898 Today: +44 (0) 20 7638 9571Mobile: +44 (0) 7836 250150 (RK) Tel: +44 (0) 121 455 8370Mobile: +44 (0) 7956 278522 (KS)www.thecharacter.com Annual General Meeting being held at 11.00am at the offices of Citigate DeweRogerson, 3 London Wall Buildings, London Wall, EC2M 5SY. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange