Pre-tax profits halved at toy maker Character Group as it braces itself for more difficulties ahead.<\/p>\n
It had already warned of subdued sales over Christmas and today has published its half-year results to February showing a 12% fall in revenue. It generated \u00a351.7m sales, but pre-tax profits were just \u00a32.5m – down 55% on the previous year.<\/p>\n
The group’s product ranges include Peppa Pig, Ben & Holly, Doctor Who, Fireman Sam, Postman Pat and Teletubbies.<\/p>\n
In a statement to the stock market, the company said: “We cannot hope to make up the sales that we lose during the period of lockdowns in our markets.”<\/p>\n
The Oldham-based company remains positive that it will remain profitable despite the impact of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
“With the quality of our brand portfolio, the strength of our customer relationships and the resilience of our cash-generative business model, the board expects to achieve a profit in the second half and, accordingly, for the current financial year as a whole,” it added.<\/p>\n
Character Group’s share price has already suffered in the last year, falling from a high of 590p to a five-year low of 180p in March. Last night’s close of 250p remains nearly 60% below the levels enjoyed last July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
But it expects to stay profitable despite current difficulties<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1728842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"coauthors":[81],"class_list":["post-2060648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manufacturing","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"\n