Toy firm shows true Character

OLDHAM toy distributor Character Group has turned around its balance sheet in the first half of the new financial year and announced a pre-tax profit of £3.73million.

This compares with a loss of £3.84million in the same period last year for the company, which has its head office at the Leesbrook Mill, Lees.

In the six months to February 28, sales were up 14 per cent on 2009 to £43.1million. That period in 2009 saw the company reel from the collapse of Woolworths.

Character, which has its corporate headquarters in New Malden, Surrey, believes the transformation is due to the strategy of developing “own product” lines and selectively distributing third-party products.

The company has seen exceptional demand for ZhuZhu Pets — previously known as GoGo Pets — while HM Armed Forces, Peppa Pig, Scooby Doo and the new Doctor Who range are all expected to realise gross revenues of around £10million per brand in 2010.

Postman Pat, Fireman Sam and Let’s Cook are expected to realise around £5 million each.

Group chairman Richard King said: “We are pleased to report that our strategy of developing our own-branded toy ranges and selectively distributing third-party product lines has finally matured to where we have achieved a significant turnaround for the business.

“The underlying strength of our portfolio and the enthusiasm for our products by our customers has resulted in increased demand.

“This very positive progress is reflected in our results which exceeded internal management forecasts in terms of revenue and profitability giving us a good start to the second half of this financial year.”