The Character Group has announced an increase in revenue from £67.19m to £97.89m, while group profits before tax have risen from £0.2m to £7.11m.

Both domestic and international sales grew by over 40% across the year.

Chairman Richard King commented: “We are delighted to report that the sales growth predicted in last year’s Chairman’s statement has been achieved. The Group continued to benefit from the quality of the established brands within its product portfolio, as well as from the introduction of new product lines throughout the year. It is especially pleasing to note that our top nine branded product lines account for approximately 75% of our total turnover. As these brands continue to mature we expect to see further growth overall, as we continue to apply our development and marketing skills to them. Our sales growth saw an increase in our market share and reinforced our position as one of the UK’s leading toy companies. The new financial year has started off well, with very pleasing sales at the consumer level which is building ahead of our expectations in the lead-up to Christmas, and we look forward to further growth in the current year.”