Business
Sale of Digital Division
Sale of Digital Division.
About this update from Character Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Character Group PLC\n25 January 2006\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIssued on behalf of The Character Group plc\nDate: Wednesday, 25 January 2006\n IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n The Character Group plc\n ('Group' or 'Company' or 'Character')\n Proposed sale of Character Group's Digital Division\n\nFollowing the Group's announcements dated 9 January 2006 and 19 January 2006,\nthe Board of The Character Group plc announces that contracts have today been\nexchanged with Flextronics Sales and Marketing (A-P) Limited ('Flextronics') for\nthe sale of the Group's Digital business, trading under the name World Wide\nLicences Limited ('WWL').\n\nThe consideration for the Digital business is US$16 million for the goodwill and\nan additional sum for the closing inventory, which will be determined on\ncompletion of the transaction, which is expected to be in February 2006.\n\nWWL, based in Hong Kong, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Group and is\nengaged in the design, development and manufacture of digital products, which\nprincipally consist of digital cameras in addition to managing the Hong Kong and\nChinese logistics for the overall Group. The Group shall continue to have a\npresence in Hong Kong which together with its new facilities in Shenzhen, China\nwill enable the Group to continue the growth of its Toys, Games and Gifts\nbusiness.\n\nCommenting on the proposed sale of the Digital business, Richard King, Chairman\nof the Group, said:\n\n'The sale of the Digital business will allow the Group to focus entirely upon\nthe development of its toys, games and gifts business which has, and continues\nto have, a number of very exciting opportunities to build on our strong\nperformance to last Christmas.'\n\n'The Directors also consider that a sale is a better option for the Group than a\nde-merger, which was previously under consideration.'\n\n'The Board is confident that Flextronics is uniquely placed to develop the\ndigital business to a far higher level than Character could achieve in the same\ntimescale.'\n\n'The proposed sale of the Digital business is believed to be in the best\ninterests of the Group's shareholders but, as importantly, it gives more\nopportunity and future development for the employees within WWL who have played\na significant role in developing the business to date.'\n\n'We are delighted that The Character Group plc has accepted our ...