Toy company is also anticipating growth in the coming year.
The Character Group has reported its results for the year ending August 31, 2020 and – despite the pandemic challenges – it reported a profit before tax for the full year of £5 million on turnover of £105 million.
It was also noted in the report that the performance of the Group since the end of the first lockdown in the UK in early July and in the lead up to Christmas has been ‘tremendous’ and, as a consequence, the anticipated strengthening and growth of the group’s business was not lost but deferred and will be realised in the current financial year.
On the topic of Brexit, the Group’s 2018 acquisition of Proxy has ensured the uninterrupted continuity of the Group’s UK operations and its cross-border business with the EU. The mainland UK business will be unaffected by the changes following Brexit, as the imports of its inventories are from the Far East.
Fresh collections for the trading period included exciting new distributor lines, as well as some key brands developed in-house. From a preschool point of view, the company’s Peppa Pig collection is strong with new launches including an eco-friendly wooden option, while Peppa Pig’s Shopping Centre Play-set was also named in this year’s Dream Toys Dream Dozen.
The statement ended with an outlook for the next financial year: “We believe that the product portfolio is one of the strongest and best performing offerings that the Group has gone to market with in recent years.
“The resilience of Character’s performance has arisen from the ability of many of its customers to effectively service demand by migrating sales from bricks and mortar outlets to online shops and marketplaces, when needed. Character’s success in preserving profitability in troubled times and positioning itself to take advantage of the current opportunities has been down to the management’s ability to read and respond to the Group’s fast-evolving market trends.
“The Group has developed an exciting and innovative line of new products, many of which are already in our current catalogue and others are in the pipeline for launch in the New Year.
“Trading in the lead up to Christmas 2020, including during the second UK lockdown, has been significantly ahead of the previous year’s sales and the prospects for the current financial year ending August 2021 are looking extremely positive.”
