Lionsgate Revenue Jumps 41% as Michael Lifts Its Film Profits
Summary
Motion picture profit nearly tripled to $88.7 million, and CEO Jon Feltheimer declined to discuss Legendary's reported takeover offer.
"Lionsgate reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $668.8 million on Thursday, up about 41% from $475.1 million a year earlier, and narrowed its net loss to roughly $15.5 million from $113.2 million, Variety and Deadline reported. The motion picture segment drove the gain: revenue rose 30% to $359.3 million and segment profit climbed to $88.7 million from $30.5 million, according to The Desk's breakdown of the results. CFO Jimmy Barge credited ""continued contributions from Michael"" and carryover from the prior year's slate, and trailing 12-month library revenue stayed above $1 billion.
On the earnings call, analysts asked about press reports that Legendary has made a takeover offer for the studio. ""As always, we're not going to respond to M&A speculation,"" Feltheimer said, adding that ""in this rapidly consolidating environment, I believe we're very well positioned."" He also said 10 of Lionsgate's next 15 wide releases are ""repeatable branded properties.""
The company is two weeks from The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which Feltheimer called potentially ""one of our biggest and best Hunger Games yet."" Lionsgate ended the quarter with $358.5 million in cash and about $1.86 billion in corporate debt, The Desk reported."
