The
information contained within this announcement is deemed by the
Company to constitute inside information stipulated under the
Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK
domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory
Information Service, this inside information is now considered to
be in the public domain.
Tuesday, 6 February 2024
The Character Group
plc
("Character," the "Company" or the "Group")
Designers, developers and international distributor of toys,
games, and giftware
Share
Buyback Programme
Character (AIM:CCT)
today announces that, as part of its strategy to repurchase the Company's own shares
when considered appropriate, it will
undertake a share buyback programme of up
to a maximum aggregate consideration of one
million pounds (£1.0m) (the "Share Buyback
Programme"), which will be funded out of
the Group's existing cash resources.
The Company has appointed its joint
corporate broker, Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited ("Panmure Gordon"),
to manage the Share Buyback Programme and to repurchase issued
Ordinary Shares on its behalf from today's date until the day
before the date of Company's 2025 AGM or earlier if the maximum
aggregate consideration of £1.0 million is
reached before that date. The
Share Buyback Programme
can subsequently be increased in scale by agreement between the
Company and Panmure Gordon. If any
such agreement is reached, a further
announcement will be made giving details of the
agreement.
The Company has engaged Panmure
Gordon to operate the Share Buyback Programme on a broker-managed
basis, repurchasing Ordinary Shares (within certain defined
parameters). Panmure Gordon will make all trading decisions in
relation to the buyback of Ordinary Shares independently of the
Company within the terms of the Share Buyback Programme.
Share purchases under the Share
Buyback Programme will take place in open market transactions and
may be made from time to time depending on market conditions, share
price, trading volume and other terms. The maximum price paid per
Ordinary Share will be no more than: (i) the higher of the price of
the last independent trade and the highest current independent
purchase bid for Ordinary Shares on the trading venue where the
purchase is carried out; and (ii) 105 per
cent of the average closing middle market quotations of an Ordinary
Share for the five business days immediately preceding the day on
which such Ordinary Shares are purchased.
Under the Share Buyback Programme, the shares repurchased by the
Company will be cancelled.
There is no guarantee that the Share
Buyback Programme will be implemented in full or that any purchases
will be made. The Company reserves the right to bring a halt
to the Share Buyback Programme under circumstances that it deems to
be appropriate and in accordance with relevant law and
regulation.
The Share Buyback Programme will
operate in accordance with the Company's general authority to
purchase a maximum of 2,890,000 Ordinary Shares, granted by its
shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on
19 January 2024. The purpose of the Share Buyback Programme is to
reduce the Company's share capital. The Share Buyback Programme
will be conducted within the pricing parameters of the Market Abuse
Regulation 596/2014/EU and the delegated regulations made pursuant
to it (the "Regulations"). However, given the limited liquidity in
the issued Ordinary Shares, the Company has agreed that,
on any trading day, a buy-back of Ordinary Shares under
the Share Buyback Programme may exceed 25% but remain below 50% of
the average daily trading volume in the Ordinary Shares in the 20
trading days preceding the date on which a buy-back of Ordinary
Shares is carried out. Accordingly, the Company may not benefit from the exemption
contained in the Regulations.
The Company confirms that it
currently has no other unpublished price sensitive information at
the time of this announcement.
The Company will make further
regulatory announcements in respect of repurchases of Ordinary
Shares as required by UK MAR and the AIM Rules.
Total Voting Rights (TVR)
As at 5 February 2024, the Company's
total issued share capital consisted of 21,465,929 Ordinary Shares,
with one voting right per share, of which 2,100,159 are held in
treasury. Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the
Company was 19,365,770.
The
Character Group plc
FTSE sector: leisure
goods:
FTSE AIM All-share: symbol: CCT
Market cap: £52m
Email:
info@charactergroup.plc.uk
Group website:
www.thecharacter.com
Product ranges can also be viewed
at www.character-online.co.uk
CHARACTER GROUP PLC CCT Stock | London Stock
Exchange
Enquiries to:
The
Character Group plc
Jon Diver, Joint Managing
Director
Kiran Shah, Joint Managing Director
& Group Finance Director
Office: +44 (0) 208 329
3377
Mobile: +44 (0) 7831 802219
(JD)
Mobile: +44 (0) 7956 278522
(KS)
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Panmure Gordon (Nominated Adviser and Joint
Broker)
Atholl Tweedie, Investment
Banking
Rupert Dearden, Corporate
Broking
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886
2500
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Allenby Capital Limited (Joint
Broker)
Nick Athanas, Corporate
Finance
Amrit Nahal / Tony Quirke, Sales
& Corporate Broking
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3328
5656
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TooleyStreet Communications Limited (Investor and media
relations)
Fiona Tooley
Tel: +44 (0) 7785
703523
Email: fiona@tooleystreet.com
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