Stock market investors are not often excited by small, fluffy, pretend hamsters, but they caught the eye yesterday as shares in the company behind Go Go Pets rose by 4 per cent.
Character Group, up 3p to 78p, said that better-than-expected demand for its Christmas bestseller meant that it was likely to report a significant turn-around in first-half pre-tax profits. Overall, the company said that sales for the first four months of its financial year had risen by 1.2 per cent, amid a wider declining toy market, with normal-margin UK sales rising by 18 per cent and loss-making or low-margin clearance sales down by more than 30 per cent.
The group’s upbeat performance comes despite an American consumer organisation claiming that Mr Squiggles, one of the Go Go Pets, contained a potentially dangerous level of a chemical, which the company disputed.
Earthport shed ¼p to 12¼p after the money-transfer group confirmed that James Bergman, its chief executive, had resigned with immediate effect. No reason was given for his departure.
UK Mail rose 7½p to 312¼p after the delivery group said that it was trading slightly ahead of expectations. It added that its parcels division had returned to growth for the first time in six quarters. Astaire said that, despite rapid growth in mail in recent years, UK Mail’s parcels division remained the biggest contributor to group profits, so the resumption of growth there was welcome and significant.
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Coastal Energy dropped 38½p to 340p after the AIM-listed oil explorer abandoned a well in Thailand.
Oxford Instruments rose 11.2p to 231p after the maker of high-tech tools said that it was confident of reporting full-year results in line with expectations.