character group plc said on friday that it expects fiscal 2022 underlying pretax profit to be in line with market expectations and that it maintained a steady performance in the lead up to and through the christmas period the londonlisted distributor of toys games and giftware said that for the year ending aug 31 market consensus compiled by the company for underlying pretax profit was around 113 million pounds 154 million the company said turnover rose around 23 in the fourmonth period ended dec 31 compared with the year before and that the bulk of this was attributable to us and scandinavian sales turnover in the uk and the rest of the world remained flat character group said the company said its maintained its performance despite the global logistical problems which continue to affect exports to the uk and its global markets from asia character group said that although the rise in freight rates from asia has significantly increased costs it has endeavored to raise its prices in the uk and scandinavia to mitigate the effect on margins