27th Apr 2016 09:52
LONDON (Alliance News) - The Character Group PLC on Wednesday reported a small increase in profit in the first half of its financial year, after good sales growth driven by strong demand for major brands including Peppa Pig and Teletubbies.
The maker of toys, games and giftware said its pretax profit in the six months ended February 29 grew marginally to GBP8.7 million from GBP8.5 million in the same period the year before, as revenue rose to GBP65.2 million from GBP58.2 million, but cost of sales rose in step with this revenue growth.
Character Group said Scooby Doo and Fireman Sam performed well in the period, while Teletubbies was added to its list of top performers following the launch of new products in January. Increasingly popular Peppa Pig, meanwhile, remained the company's lead brand.
The company also signed a new licence for the relaunch of the Stretch Armstrong stretchy rubber toy during the half year.
Character Group will pay an interim dividend of 7.0 pence, up from 5.0p the prior year.
"Overall, current trading continues to be encouraging, and we remain on target to achieve market expectations for the full financial year ending August 31, 2016," Character Group said in a statement.
Shares in Character Group were trading up 0.5% at 515.00 pence on Wednesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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