Companies: CCT   

Just two months after a confident update, toys and camera products play Character Group has warned it won't meet forecasts for the current year to August, although a final dividend remains on the cards. Chairman Richard King explained the biggest difficulty arose in the digital division. Although there have been solid sales of Polaroid digital cameras into Japan, Germany, France, Canada and the UK, the group's US distribution has been seriously damaged by former distributor Uniden's withdrawal 'without warning or explanation' in March. Character Group apparently has a strong case for damages. King and his team were also over-optimistic about new US distributor Petters' ability to recapture lost sales and run with sales leads, and by the time Petters was able to showcase the group's digital product range, US retailers had decided to run with rivals. Over in the toys, games and gifts division, the seasonal sales pick-up seen in June, July and August just hasn't come through as strongly as last year. However, products such as 'Scooby-Doo', 'Strawberry Shortcake' and 'Magic Sand' are performing well. Despite all these difficulties, King expects the second half of the year to be marginally profitable and hopes for a successful year to August 2005. Best avoided for now though.