brt in article in todays australian

Gday everyone

BRT (along with FUN) have appeared in today's Critereon section of the Australian!

Points out some interesting little tid bits :-)

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23736923-23634,00.html

Brainytoys (BRT) 9.5c

A GRANDFATHER with a keen interest in such matters asks why Brainytoys' price has shed 44 per cent since we visited the stock in January.

The Perth minnow makes and distributes games and toys based on characters such as Thomas the Tank Engine. Unlike Funtastic, Brainytoys owns 70-80 per cent of its products, which allows for fatter margins.

Through four acquisitions, Brainytoys has expanded into the UK and the US, the latter of which accounts for 65 per cent of sales. It has also attracted Larry Bernstein, former president of Hasbro Toys, to the board and other ex-Hasbro folk are involved.

Brainytoys' March quarter statement showed a deficiency of $1.42 million on revenue of $1.9 million, with a cash balance of $666,000. A subsequent options issue raised a further $977,000, but not without difficulty.

In April, Brainytoys pointed to $20 million of revenue in calendar 2008, with 70-75 per cent of earnings derived in the second (Christmas) half. "Our model is to get the (revenue) to the level of well past $50 million and at that point we are of interest to the majors," says chairman Charles MacKinnon.

MacKinnon says an advantage of working in the US is that there's a greater number of retailers, some of which have chains of 400 stores or more.

Criterion can only conclude the stock has been dragged down by the general malaise. We retain the speculative buy ascribed at 17c in January, but warn it's especially risky because investors aren't giving small-cap stocks the benefit of the doubt.