Hit Entertainment Ltd London announced a raft of new agent appointments to represent its properties across the world.

"This marks a major shift in gear for Hit as we reinvigorate our licensing business in all key markets. It's all part of a major refocus of the company and our aggressive expansion drive into international territories," said Hit executive vice president international Peter Byrne.

A key appointment is Haven Licensing as agent for Australia, representing some of the biggest household names in licensing today, including Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder, Barney and Angelina Ballerina.

Haven Licensing managing director Tom Punch said, "We are very excited to be managing some of the biggest pre-school brands in the business and being a major part of the new Hit team."

Byrne added, "Haven is one of the most innovative players in the international licensing arena today, and we look forward to them taking the Hit portfolio of properties to even greater heights in the Australian market."

Other new licensing relationships in European, South African and the Middle Eastern markets were also announced by Hit.

Copyright Promotions Europe, the largest independent licensing agency in Europe, will be representing a number of Hit properties across their pan European network. They are:

Italy - Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends, Pingu and Fireman Sam, Spain - Bob the Builder, Portugal - Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends and Angelina Ballerina and France - Angelina Ballerina and Pingu.

In Northern Europe, Hit has appointed Kidz Entertainment, who will represent Fireman Sam across the Nordic regions. And making its first inroads into the burgeoning Eastern European market EEMC will take on the rights to Thomas & Friends in Slovenia and Croatia as Hit ramps up its broadcast presence.

Further, new appointments have also been made in Israel, with Yooka who will represent Bob the Builder and for the first time ever, Hit consumer products for Barney will be made available in the Middle East by Copyright Licensing. In South Africa, Bob the Builder will be added to CLM's existing Hit portfolio.