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.

fido - 13 Feb'07 - 10:27 - 3017 of 3017


Morning all,
Fantastic news indeed. I said that the last RNS was so true to my vision of where Character were heading that it felt like I had written it and now we have this which is even better.
This RNS tells us that we have:
More licences,
More international growth,
More focus on BRANDING.
More in house developement,
More growth,
More profits,
More certainty and less risk,
More dividends from higher profits.
The only thing that we have less of is ofcourse shares.
Todays RNS confirms what I have been saying for a long time now. The directors have a forward looking vision for Character and that vision is like my own. Its like a hand being inserted into a glove, everything is slowly coming together. Characters international growth is the perfect springboard for 3i to maximise the potential of its treasure trove of Chlorion licences and although no deals have been signed as yet, this must surely be on the cards as indeed are yet more deals in the UK and now internationaly. This is all being powered by Characters expertese in the field of toys, branding,marketing and distribution.
As I have said to those who talk of risks, just stand back and see what is happening here. This is a major growth story in the making, if you stand back you can see all the pieces slotting together and is as close to a one way street as you will get.
The sad thing is that we will not be alone in seeing the potential in Character.Every petal that unfolds in Characters bud makes it more and more certain that it will be bid for the prime rose that it is.

don't knock being a potential t/o target!

Right now that I have had more time to digest this latest news I have a couple of more points that I would like to add.
The first point is about BRANDING. I know that I keep going on about it but I feel that its important and needs to be underlined because I feel that it is the difference between making an ad hoc profit and a long term moneyspinner.
The BRANDING route to profits is one that Character have clearly identified as maximising profit potential. I said that Dr Who would not be the last branding exercise and judgeing by the following quote from Character there are clearly more to come.
"we see DORK HUNTERS FROM OUTER SPACE as a strategic
cornerstone for our extensive branding initiatives.'

Another point comes from Nicola Andrews of BKN News Media who says that Character Group were the "OBVIOUS CHOICE IN EUROPE". That means that the expertese that is recognised in this country is now recognised on an international basis and if Character are the obvious choice for BKN then they will be the obvious choice for others too. As I said, success breeds success.

The last point is that BKN are a GLOBAL company and have done deals in 95 countries. In many ways they are like Character themselves only much larger.
Two points need to be born in mind because of this.
The first is that the partnership between Character and BKN is likely to be HUGELY BENIFICIAL to Character in every sence, and there is a very strong possibilty of more deals to come.
The last point is about the possibility of a contested bid. As I said BKN are in the same business as Character and if 3i bid then you can bet your bottom dollar that BKN will be bidding too.
As I said before, where are the risks. Being IN or being OUT.

Have a read about BKN. The potential is not unlike that of 3i`s Chlorion:

http://www.bknhomeentertainment.com/about/about.html

To give you some idea of potential have a look at the following sentence:

The Company owns the sixth largest global
library of animation consisting of 76 different titles and 1,909 episodes or films licensed in more than
95 countries and dubbed in approximately 30 languages and dialects.

Now, put together Character, 3i,HIT,BKN,BBC and all the others who will now want to partner Character.

ARE YOU STARTING TO GET THE PICTURE!

elmfield - 13 Feb'07 - 22:14 - 3046 of 3050


I got it a while back, it had been said that cct should not be on the same p/e as hornby for example because cct did not have enough strings on their bow, I say that they will have many strings and if the odd one breaks no matter, The team at cct are one to back and I have been saying this for some time and despite the recent rise I still reckon these are a BUY.
We should be on a p/e of around 15 which will have a nice dividend to add support, All just my own view and should not be taken as a recomendation to buy CCT.

scburbs - 13 Feb'07 - 22:31 - 3047 of 3050


Elmfield, yes I agree as CCT adds more strings it derisks the stock and removes some risk restrictions from the P/E. I was previously thinking 12-15 as reasonable, but I think recent developments implies the top end of that range as you have suggested.

Applying 15 P/E to:

V.Low broker forecast of 12.66p - target 190p
My mid range eps forecast 15p - target 225p
Paulypilot continued 35% growth forecast 18p - target 270p

Based on the above I think 225p is a reasonable target for this year (or c.50% upside from the current price) potentially more if 35% growth continues for the full year.

fido - 13 Feb'07 - 22:51 - 3048 of 3050


elmfield,
I am happy that you can see where this is heading. I think that maybe a few more will be awake to the potential here.
What we have here, is the coming together of all multimedia forms with the aim to maximise profit potential through branding on a global stage. This is exactly the sort of thing that 3i are thinking of for their Chlorion licences and is why I believe the partnering of the two must surely be a done deal.
I do however believe that the market is being slow to recognise the change in Character and its potential. I think that the market still sees Character as JUST a toy company and this is one of the reasons that the SP is being held back. The good news is that all those that matter like Character themselves. 3i, the BBC and now BKN, see this as very much more than that.
As I have said many times before, this is a fantastic growth story. Last week the only topic was of the Sharewatch article and now we have BKN. Newsflow like this is going to continue into the medium term and is going to culminate in a company with a much much higher value. The reducing number of shares is going to send the PE zooming up and increasing the yield at a very satisfying pace and you don`t need me to tell you what all of this is going to do to the SP in the medium term.

sikhthetech - 13 Feb'07 - 23:00 - 3049 of 3050


Fido, the best gems are the ones where the 'market is being slow to recognise the potential'.....remember sheep....
Good Luck

fido - 13 Feb'07 - 23:21 - 3050 of 3050


sikhthetech,
The market and indeed investors are often slow at recognising potential. I take it that you have read what I said about PGS. PGS is another example of how a real moneyspinner can go unoticed for ages before it is accepted as a high growth stock and receives a re rating.
The reason I try not to put a value on Character is because so much of its upside comes from its potential. Historical earnings figures are hopelessly out of date when compared to the pace of forthcoming deals. The steadily reducing number of shares also throw the calculations out and we have yet to see the effect of the institutional herd mentality buying into a high growth stock paying an excelent and increasing yield and with bid possibilities. All you can say is that this should be on at least a PE of 15 right now with an SP somewhere north of 2. The medium term will see us in the 3-4 bracket or ealier if there is a bidding contest.

Not got time to do the maths regarding the share buybacks, but looks like 3i have been increasing their stake.

I could be wrong but I am checking out now for the time being. I like buying this share when its below 50p

good luck to you all

Nowt wrong with taking a profit, took some myself last week but will be holding the rest for quite a while as there seems to be much more potential yet. CCT management have an excellent job of turning this company around in a difficult retail environment. I liked the comment that they seemed the obvious choice in Europe to partner with. How times have changed in 2 years!!

Looks like a profit-taking week? Seems to be on decreasing volume throughout the week so I'm not worried - it may be an attempt to fill the gap up on 12 Feb.

Steve

The Character Group plc
Interim Results for the six months ended 28 February 2007

Highlights

Continuing Business (Toys, Games and Gifts)
6 months to 6 months to
28 February 2007 28 February 2006
m m
Turnover 56.0 40.7
Operating profit 6.6 3.7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earnings per share - basic 10.05p 5.69p
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dividend
Interim dividend of 2.0 pence per share, an increase of 21.2% over last year
(2006 1.65 pence). This dividend is covered approximately 5 times by earnings

Cash at Bank on 28 February 2007 was 11.86 million (2006: 10.3 million).
This is after taking account of share buy-backs undertaken during
the period totalling 3.4 million

New Licences Secured include:
The Master Licence for the Sarah Jane Adventures TV Series (as a spin-off from
the Doctor Who series)
Pan European Master Toy Contract for Dork Hunters from Outer Space

New Products include:
Doctor Who Dalek Sec Hybrid Voice Changer Helmet
Spidersapien, a fusion of Spiderman 3 and our 2005 award winning Robosapien,
which is expected to be our lead line for our range of Spiderman 3 toys

New Ranges include:
Bindeez
Movin' & Groovin' Flowers
This Is Me (a new range of soft body dolls)
Dragonfly
Roboquad (our new Robotic introductions)

Toy of the Year accolade for Doctor Who Cyberman Helmet

'Taking into account the on-going strong demand for our continuing lines and our
new introductions, we are very excited about our prospects and expect to see
further exciting growth as we continue to build our existing brands and develop
new ones.'
Richard King, Chairman

Interim profits exceed expectations, EPS 9.3p for 6 months, very strong performance. This has exceeded my own expectations since starting the thread.
Took some profits on the way but still have original first buys.
Onwards and upwards.

Figures look good to me. FY EPS should be at least 13p, and that's if you take figures for FY ending August 2006, where sales are obviously way behind current levels.

I assume that newly-issued SP targets of 250p are therefore well within the bounds of reason.

The mkt cap is 91 mil, but the co had almost 11 mil of cash, which they are using to buy back stock (e.g. they bought back and will cancel 190,000 yesterday). The buyback underpins further SP growth, IMO.

Just got in at 201.5p, even on a T+25, so trading is currently well within spread of 200/202.

good easy to read chart on post 183 .... sp has just about hit 25 dma (+/-200 and rising) and this looks quite a good time to buy with 50 dma at about 190 and rising providing further support below.

Good comment re the 25 DMA, Cynic. A candlestick chart of today's progress ought to reveal a potential turning point for the SP too.

Both the TA and the fundamentals look good, so here's hoping that this one continues to soar.

(As usual, WDIK, PDYOR, etc.).

It's done what I hoped it would do, i.e. bouncing just below 200p.
Currently: CCT Bid: 200p Offer: 203p Change: 2.5 219K traded.

The shape of the chart over recent months gives me confidence that this ought to go a good bit higher on the back of the decent interims - I certainly hope that will be the case :o)

PDYOR, etc.

and up some more :o)

CCT Bid: 201p Offer: 205p Change: 4

Glad I came in to CTT yesterday! Thanks for your encouragement ST!

ST, are you in VIY? I ask because a similar bounce situation at 9.5p could be on the cards today. If you have time I'd be interested in what do you think (I bought in at 9.29 earlier when the sells seemed to be drying up, in anticipation/hope of this scenario).

Cheers Madison

hi Madison. Good to hear from you - but it's probably best to thank me for the encouragement on CCT when you've bagged a tidy profit ;o)

Thanks for the heads-up on VIY. I'm not in, and on reading the RNS headlines would be a little bit hesitant about short-term trading it as they have no profits at the moment. Will think about it as a buy-and-hold.

Hi ST,

I agree VIY is highly speculative. Don't worry, I'm not selling my TESCO shares to fund them! Cheers, Madison.