 Chorion chief Richard James expects big things from Noddy |
The popularity of Noddy and the Mr Men have helped media group Chorion to unveil record full-year profits. Pre-tax profits rose 35% to �4.3m ($8.2m) in 2004, helped by "phenomenal growth" at its children's business.
Gross profits at the children's division rose by more than half to �5.1m, aided by the acquisition of the Mr Men brand for �28m in May last year.
Chorion said its recent Agatha Christie series had been so successful that ITV had doubled its order of new films.
Noddy's global appeal
Chorion said merchandising of the Mr Men and Little Misses characters was a key driver of the rise in profits at its children's business.
It also added that the popularity of Noddy across the Channel had helped to lift earnings.
Noddy is the second most popular licensed pre-school character in France, Chorion said, with Disney's Winnie the Pooh in number one spot.
Chorion said it expected "significant" future growth for Enid Blyton's creation. The group has been working on Noddy programmes that will help youngsters learn languages such as Spanish and French and even Mandarin.
"Noddy's imminent launch into three of the world's largest markets, the United States, Japan and China, will help to generate continued growth for Chorion in the years ahead," said chief executive Nicholas James.
Dramatic increase
Meanwhile, gross profits at its crime brands unit - which includes Agatha Christie's characters Poirot and Miss Marple - rose 13% to �7.6m.
The company said Miss Marple's latest outing on ITV, starring Geraldine McEwan, had been so successful that the broadcaster has doubled its order of new Christie films for 2005 to eight.
Chorion also hopes its recent purchase of US crime writer Raymond Chandler's literary franchise will help sate the public's appetite for crime dramas.
"Our crime brands business has also performed very well with further commissions and acquisitions," said chairman Waheed Ali.
"We look forward to additional growth across the business driven by the development of our existing portfolio, and the acquisition of classic entertainment brands and content."
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Noddy's imminent launch into three of the world's largest markets... will help to generate continued growth for Chorion in the years ahead
