China’s 100 million under-fives will have the chance to cuddle Postman Pat and his black and white cat and collect the man from Greendale’s best exploits on DVD after deals struck by his owner, Entertainment Rights.

The crucial licensing agreements come a fortnight after the first episodes of Pat’s exploits began being shown on the national CCTV Children’s channel. The hero in the red van is dubbed in Chinese, but still bears his original name.

Merchandising and DVD sales are key to profitability in the children’s character business, while the function of the television programme is to make youngsters aware of the character in the first place. The licensing deals helped to lift the shares by 29 per cent, or 1.47p, to 6.47p yesterday.

China may still be developing economically, but its one-child policy is a potential boost because it means that there are a high number of adults who may be willing to buy toys for children in their family. An estimated 22 million children are born each year in the world’s most populous country.

Entertainment Rights has sold the first eight series of Pat, totalling 106 episodes, to CCTV. It has yet to agree a deal with the state broadcaster and regulators for the forthcoming series, in which the postman has been promoted after more than a quarter of a century to a job that will take him away from rural Greendale to the city.

Postman Pat Special Delivery Service will air on the BBC in the autumn and has been sold to broadcasters in Australia, Italy, South Africa and Hong Kong. The amiable and now presumably fearless deliverer is given a whole range of vehicles, including helicopter and parachute, to help him to deliver the mail on time – in an approach that it is hoped will give him more international appeal.

Entertainment Rights is fighting to regain credibility after the company was hit hard by a profits warning last year at a time when its debts had risen to £108 million after the purchase of Classic Media, the American company that owns Lassie and Caspar the Friendly Ghost.

Nick Phillips, the new chief executive, wants to sell off some of the company’s smaller or underused properties to cut debt and focus on its bigger acts, whose ranks also include Basil Brush. Mr Phillips said: “We remain committed to internationalising our key brands, which have consistently proven to have significant global appeal.”

No figures relating to the new agreements were released yesterday, but Collins Stewart, the house broker, said that it was optimistic that the hoped-for Chinese revenues could produce upgrades to profit forecasts in the next few years.

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