GLEN ELLYN, Ill., Sept. 3 -- Racing Champions International Limited, a Racing Champions Ertl company, announced today that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Granada Media to produce Engie Benjy collectibles and toys for distribution in the UK and Ireland. The Engie Benjy license enhances Racing Champions International Limited's existing licensed pre-school product lines which include the Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder properties.
The Engie Benjy cartoon character -- a "vehicle doctor" whose friends' spaceships, planes, buses, boats, bikes, and tractors need help from time to time -- was developed and recently introduced by Granada Media. The Engie Benjy program has been slotted to air on the BBC with twenty-six episodes to be broadcast in 2002 and 2003.
Under the terms of this license, Racing Champions International Limited plans to produce Engie Benjy characters as die-cast vehicles and play sets with the first products planned to ship in early 2003.
According to Robert Mann, Managing Director of Racing Champions International Limited, "We're delighted to be working with Granada on this program and, judging from early market research, we believe that it has outstanding potential. Engie lives in a wonderfully unique and colorful world where anything can happen. There's nothing ordinary about Engie or his friends -- their world is limited only by a child's imagination -- and this license fits beautifully into our strategy of being first to market with innovative collectibles and toys."
Racing Champions Ertl (www.rcertl.com) is a leading producer and marketer of innovative collectibles and toys targeted at males of all ages. The Company's diverse product offerings include scaled die-cast replicas of John Deere agricultural equipment and NASCAR stock cars, other licensed vehicle replicas, pre-teen toys, sports trading cards, racing apparel and souvenirs, and collectible figures. These products are sold under the Company's market-focused brand names, including Racing Champions®, Ertl®, Ertl Collectibles®, American Muscle(TM), AMT®, W. Britain®, Press Pass®, and JoyRide Studios(TM). The Company reinforces its brands and enhances the authenticity of its products by linking them with highly recognized licensed properties including NASCAR, NHRA, John Deere, Harley- Davidson, Case IH, Polaris, Honda, Caterpillar, Ford, GM, Chrysler, Texaco, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Gullane Entertainment, Nintendo, Sega, and Electronic Arts. The Company's products are marketed through multiple channels of distribution, including mass retailers and specialty and hobby wholesalers and retailers, OEM dealers, and to corporate accounts for promotional purposes. The Company sells through more than 20,000 retail outlets located in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
Certain statements contained in this release contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "expect," "intend," "may," "planned," "potential," "should," "will" and "would." Such forward- looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Such uncertainties and other operational matters are discussed further in the Company's quarterly and annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company's actual results and future developments could differ materially from the results or developments expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to make any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this release or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.
