Toymaker The Character Group PLC (LON:CCT) wasn’t having much fun on Friday after a full-year profit warning sent its shares sliding.
In a trading update for the year ended 31 August, the AIM-listed firm said the second half had been negatively impacted by “several factors”, most notably a sales vacuum in the Scandinavian market caused by the liquidation of Top Toy, the region’s largest toy retailer.
The company also cited the “continued uncertainty over Brexit” and the subsequent weakening of sterling in the foreign exchange markets as affecting its business due to a large proportion of its purchases being made in US dollars, adding pressure to its margins.
As a result, Character said it now expected its pre-tax profit for the year to be between £11-£11.5mln, “slightly under” the lower end of market expectations.
However, despite the setback, the company said it remained “confident” of its continued profitable performance, and would, therefore, be maintaining its final dividend for the year just ended.
Character will publish its full-year results in the first week of December.
In early trading on Friday, the shares had tumbled 8.7% to 338p.