Companies: CCT   

The toys and games distribution business has moved into the black after a disastrous couple of years. In the six months to February, profits reached £121,000 compared to a loss of £1.9m at the same point last year. Turnover slipped from £36.6m to £29.6m, but chairman Richard King said that the improvement was due to selling higher quality games and toys, especially over the Christmas period. Finance director Kiran Shah said that there were no blockbuster items, but that lines such as Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter generated good growth because of the serial nature of the films. He added that the problems caused by over-stocking Star Wars merchandise had led to balance sheet and cash flow problems, but that these had been solved largely by an Italian distribution business taking a 30% stake in the business. According to James Middleweek at Collins Stewart, the group should make profits of around £1m for the full year, although King said that it was hard to predict results further out than this. Avoid until more tangible signs of recovery are evident.