After a difficult trading year that has seen losses for CCT and the sp nose-dive to 25p at one point the solution to return to profits may come from the launch of electronic Sudoku games in time for Christmas. Character will launch two Carol Vorderman Sudoku products. For Sudoku fans on the move, there are two handy travel size products: a hand-held LCD game (19.99) with over 750 grids, and a touch screen version (29.99), with over 100,000 permutations of the game. A plug and play version, allowing addicts to play Sudoku on their home TV (29.99) will follow later this year. It won't take many sales to rack up good profits if these are anywhere near as addictive as the puzzle books have proved to be so far.
500,000 sold at guess 5 profit per item would rack up 2.5m, with less than 53m shares that is a healthy EPS of 4p on one item alone and my estimate is probably conservative? They also have licensing rights to Dr Who, Little Britain and Batman amongst others.
Also 70% of these shares are in the hands of Directors, Pension Trusts and Funds and as has been seen in recent weeks, moderate buying has pushed up the share price. It has all the hallmarks of a possible recovery stock as was IDS which I tipped last year at 81p and is now 382p. Not saying this will reach those heights but if Sudoku sells well this Christmas expect CCT to show a good start to their financial year. 2005 figures ending August 31st will not be good but we don't buy shares on the past, there is no gearing and 8m of shareholders funds available.
Take a look. The profits could be more pleasing than solving the puzzles.

Glasshalfull - 28 Dec'06 - 00:47 - 2127 of 2127


Scotland's top selling tabloid - Daily Record - produced the following article on 27/12/06 (nice headline!)
Hopefully the same was replicated throughout the UK.



WHO'S THE TOP TOY?

TV Doctor is kids' favourite

By Kevan Christie

DR WHO proved the biggest hit with the kids this Christmas as merchandise from the show continued to fly off the shelves.

The popularity of the BBC1 show saw supplies of Daleks, Cyberman Voice Changers and Sonic Screwdrivers outstrip demand, according to the UK's biggest toy store chain.

Toys R Us said stores were forced to source Doctor Who merchandise from across the world to keep up with demand.

And in-store displays were being replenished up to five times a day in November and December.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_headline=who-s-the-top-toy-&method=full&objectid=18332771&siteid=66633-name_page.html




Regards,
GHF

anyone know the date of the trading update or if anyone has any other tongue twisters please post

Based around previous January trading updates, the Trading update is likely to be due Tues 9th Jan.

What the toy industry has found is that branded toys produce not only higher sales but command longer loyalty and can also be extended like we are now seeing with the NEW RANGE of Dr Who toys. This is opposed to one off toys like the Spice Girl dolls.
The incredible success of the Dr Who range is testiment to the ablity of Character to create a brand and then market it.
As I keep saying 3i have a wealth of licences that they wish to exploit. Some of the licences have never been marketed at all. 3i have stated that they now wish to exploit these licences through branding on a global scale and their near 30% stake in Character together with a 3i director on Characters board can only mean one thing in my opinion.Likwise as I said before, the BBC have seen huge revenue from Dr Who. They also have seen the benifit of branding and are seeking to replicate the success on other projects which must surely include Character. Other companies will also be watching with interest. It does not take much to see that this could become are very much larger and profitable company. The move north in the SP is never going to be a straight line and there will be days when the SP will fall back, but the forces that are propelling the potential of Character have never been stronger and I have never felt more certain about the direction of a share. If my thoughts about propects are proven then this share will not only match Hornby`s PE but it will beat it.

Bought back in today in anticipation of barnstorming trading update, and also coverage in this weekends SCSW.

has a date for trading update been announced?

haracter Group says four-month sales to end-Dec up 35 pct on last year
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - Character Group PLC, which designs, develops and distributes toys, games and gifts, said sales from continuing operations for the first four months to Dec 31 were up 35 pct on last year.

In a trading update, the company said it has received a 'strong' response to its 2007 Christmas product range, which would lead to further growth throughout the year.

Given its Christmas 2006 sales and the positive reaction to its current product portfolio, chairman Richard King said the company remains on target to maintain its growth throughout 2007.


http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200701170700256252P.html

the good news is now out, so have taken a sweet little profit, which was always my aim ...... dare say a good term hold, as momentum currently behind it and golden cross possibly just formed

cynic
A bit slow but looking at 200p+

not saying you are wrong ..... no a sector i really follow and took this position solely as a trade over the Christmas period ..... nowt wrong in taking profit!

will have another look at CSR when I get a mo ..... in SF at the moment, but will try to within next hour

Character Group
Share price: 126p +0.5p
Questor says Buy

The return of Dr Who to our television screens in 2005 did not just resurrect the career of Billie Piper - it also helped toymaker Character Group return to a healthy profit. The company makes toys and games under licence, to tie in with television programmes such as Dr Who, Scooby Doo and Little Britain. It is also the company behind the popular Robosapien robot.

In the first half of 2005 the company was making a loss but thanks to a strong product line-up - due at least in part to the popularity of Dr Who and Little Britain - it returned to profit at the end of that year and it has remained in the black ever since.

Character has also sold its digital division, which produces Polaroid cameras - no longer a must-have item due to the advent of digital cameras. It is now focused on toys and games and has been developing more of its own products alongside those it produces under licence. It is also expected to unveil a new line of girls' dolls - described as somewhere between Bratz and Barbie - at the next week's Toy Show in London.

Character Group said yesterday that sales from its continuing operations rose 35pc in the four months to December 31 and analysts believe the future pipeline of products is strong. The company also plans to continue its share buyback which will improve earnings per share.

The Aim-listed company's share price has more than doubled over the past year and Questor tipped the stock at 71p last August. It now trades at 10.5 times forecast 2008 earnings - a considerable discount to closest quoted rival Hornby - with a prospective yield of 3.2pc.

Even if you're not a fan of the revived Doctor Who, it will be a while before this lucrative revenue line is exterminated and, even then, Character Group has a good portfolio of toys and games which should help growth to continue.

james.quinn@telegraph.co.uk

Great news today. 150p should be reached in the near future.

lex1000 - 31 Jan 2007 23:36 - 11 of 11
31/01/07 - 14:59 Sale of Treasury Shares RNS
31/01/07 - 09:20 Character Group sees current year exceed market AFX
31/01/07 - 07:00 Trading Update RNS

The news gets better & better.Good year of growth,increasing dividends,profit upgrades and chart breakouts continue.

Bullish chart confirmed chart breakout should take sp to 150p.Charles Stanley upgraded from 145p to 160p.Strong buy methinks now another Institution on Board @ bargain price.Hence explanable reason sp held back.aimvho,dyor

Don't forget the share buys backs, increasing the EPS regardless of increasing profits!

Big write up in SCSW today - "...even these (updated) forecasts are likely to emerge as too low. Buy"

chart on post 183 shows the strong upward momentum (trend!!) with 25 dma rising sharply (currently about 135) which should lend solid support should sp fall back.

as a general comment, please take note that all indices are currently looking pretty toppy, other than DOW ..... however, even DOW is starting to look a little tired and in need of a rest - i.e. temporary retrenchment, perhaps back to 12460

Sold 35% of mine to bank some nice profit for another investment.
My remaining shares for me are effectively free now and will sit there collecting my dividends and waiting for the onward push in sp after the interims in April.
If there is the continued growth then I fully expect than CCT could be taken private but not for anything less than 2. Amazing turn-around in two years.

Wave goodbye to 2 as we pass!

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=10402960

Sharewatch - SWSC Repeated Buy Recommendation in saturday 10th newsletter. Charatcter included in Nap 2007 growth share.Watch CCT monday onwards.......


CockneyRebel - 10 Feb'07 - 16:15 - 2955 of 2976


It's excellent, as suggested here last week, one of their two main buy tips. Now that's it, no more, just wet yourself on Monday :-)

PaulyPilot has done an intersting write up on CCT today too on TMF that you might find interesting:

studhaves - 10 Feb'07 - 16:25 - 2957 of 2976


Nice write up on TMF boards too, cheers CR. I must say my own feeling is that these should be over 2-00 in a relatively short time. My own target was 2-29 from some calcs some time ago, looks like it needs revising.

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=10402960



studhaves - 10 Feb'07 - 21:12 - 2966 of 2976


I don't usually follow tipsheets, & anything I see touted around I always do my own research on, but the way I view it is kind of as an insurance policy -
if I only use it as kind of sentiment indicator for CCT to see what the herds likely to be up to it's well worth the money, & if I pick up one half decent tip from it it'll more than pay for itself a few times over :)

studhaves - 10 Feb'07 - 21:13 - 2967 of 2976


PS Elm,
I think the SP will tick up a good few points on Monday :)


I'd expected as much which is why I upped my spreadbet by another 125 last week :)

CockneyRebel - 11 Feb'07 - 11:54 - 2968 of 2976


I think north of 14p eps will be achieved this year. On the basics they did 5.69p epd in H1 last year. Add 20% to the eps for the reduced shares (it should actually be a bit more) and you have 6.83p. Sales are up 35% and margins at the same levels (I think they will increase a tad myself) and H1 eps would be 9.22p. If H2 was just the same as last year they would do 3.4p with the reduced shares. So the 12.7p eps forecast factors in no growth in H2 and the whole of the estimates factor in no margin increase.

Add in 35% sales growth in H2 maintained and you have 13.8p eps this year.

If they have increased margins it could be 15p eps+ for this year.

So the earnings growth looks like 60%+ and the PE for the current year is just 10 maximum. Growth may actually be a fair bit stronger and the PE lower if best estimates are met.

fwd PE for the year ahead will get focussed upon from the interims which is likely to be 8 or less imo. H1 ends Feb 28 so there could be an H1 trading statement in the next few weeks or then on.

17p eps next year looks well likely and a fwd PE of 12 looks modest for this gowth. Come the interims in May I bet these could easily be 170p+ with 200p a possibility imo.

CR


studhaves - 11 Feb'07 - 12:46 - 2969 of 2976


Thanks CR,
Its nice to see such low PE's still even after the recent increases - lots more room for further increases :)

fido - 11 Feb'07 - 13:17 - 2970 of 2976


It is worth noting that all these impressive earnings upgrades are coming from what is just the start of Characters potential. Dr Who was the starting point of the turnaround. This has now been followed by the Sarah Jane adventures. People talk of the risks that the BBC will not continue making Dr Who. I would argue the very opposite. Through Dr Who, the BBC has discoved a moneymaking opportunity. There is no way that having discovered this income stream that the BBC are not going to capitalise on it, so far from discontinuing Dr Who the BBC will be looking at ways of making it even more profitable. This will mean more spin offs like the Sara Jane adventures and more licences for Character.
Likewise I fully expect to see Character partnering 3i in its exploitation of its Chlorion licences.
People speak of risks. Character are underpinned by strong growth. What is not factured in is the future potential of more licences and more partnerships.
The risk is in my opinion not so much in being in, its being out at a time when growth prospects look superb.

Looking very strong pre-open.Heading 170p-200p by year end if not before.