10:17 AM EST - Mega Brands Inc. : reports a first-quarter loss of US$23.9 million, from a year-ago profit of $600,000, after posting an additional US$35.2-million charge for the partial recall of Magnetix building sets blamed in a child's choking death. For the quarter ended March 31, the loss amounted to 73 cents a diluted share, compared with earnings of two cents per share a year earlier, the Montreal-based company said Friday. The Magnetix product recall and other charges totalled 69 cents a share. Mega Brands said it decided to voluntarily remove from global retail shelves any Magnetix products that don't have a pre-printed magnet ingestion warning on the package. On April 19, Mega Brands was ordered by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall more of its Magnetix magnetic sets. In March 2006, Mega Brands had recalled 3.8 million sets when one child died and four others were seriously injured after they swallowed the tiny magnets. Mega Brands Inc.
shares MB:CA are trading down seven cents at $20.80.
