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FTSE / DOW YTD

Morning!

In the US last night, the Dow finished up 13.08 at 17,990.32 the Nasdaq down 7.50 at 4,888.28 and the S&P 500 up 3.91 to 2,091.70.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently down 62.78 points at 17,290.50 - the Hang Seng was down 82.48 points at 21,324.79.

WTI crude oil traded at $42.64 a barrel and Brent at $44.48.

Gold settled at $1,238.90 an ounce.

Trade well and prosper!

the Papers

Ex-divs to take 7.52 points off FTSE 100 on April 28

Good morning!

Opening Market Summary

CCT - 522.50p +10p Character dividend up 40% after record H1 Half Yearly Ø Significant organic growth, revenue up 12% on comparative period Ø International sales now represent approximately 25% of total revenue Ø Revenue growth is from our Top 10 performing brands, which now include Teletubbies (launched January 2016) Ø Peppa Pig continues to deliver a consistently high level of sales Ø New licenses acquired in period include Stretch Armstrong Ø Main Board further strengthened Ø Profitable and cash generative business model Ø Progressive dividend policy, interim dividend up 40% over 2015 HY1 "The Group continues to deliver highly credible results which is reflected in improved revenues and increased underlying profit before tax on the same half-year period last year." "We are very fortunate at this time not only to have strength and depth across our brands but also a wide spread of customers and suppliers, with many of whom we have long term trusted relationships. We are also very pleased with the progress we are making in overseas markets as demonstrated by the increased level of International sales, particularly in the USA." "Overall, current trading continues to be encouraging, and we remain on target to achieve market expectations for the full financial year ending 31 August 2016."

Key Performance Indicators - continuing operations	Change	Half-year ended February 2016	Half-year ended February 2015	Full-year ended August 2015
Revenue	+12.0%	£65.2m	£58.2m	£99.1m
Underlying operating profit*	+20.8%	£8.7m	£7.2m	£10.4m
Operating profit	+1.1%	£8.8m	£8.7m	£12.5m
Underlying pre-tax profit*	+22.9%	£8.6m	£7.0m	£10.2m
Pre-tax profit	+2.4%	£8.7m	£8.5m	£12.3m
Underlying basic earnings per share*	+13.6%	32.43p	28.55p	38.83p
Underlying diluted earnings per share*	+13.9%	30.69p	26.94p	36.57p
Basic earnings per share	-7.9%	32.85p	35.66p	48.56p
Diluted earnings per share	-7.6%	31.09p	33.65p	45.73p
Dividend per share	+40%	7.0p	5.0p	11.0p
Underlying EBITDA*	+30%	£10.4m	£8.0m	£11.9m
EBITDA	+10.5%	£10.5m	£9.5m	£13.9m
Net cash	£14.5m	£4.5m

Morning All.

Midday Market Summary

A long list going ex divi tomorrow Skinny, have you got the "how many pts off the index" forecast please?

Stan - the clue is in the second link in post 3! :-)

Oh yeah.. you will have noticed that I started a bit late this morning-):