Lionsgate blew past Wall Street’s expectations for the March quarter, its fiscal fourth, on a few key metrics from revenue to adjusted EPS and operating income as library sales and ramped up content deliveries helped propel TV profits up by 83%.
The numbers are the last to land this earnings season. The studio business (motion picture and television production) saw revenue of close to $880 million, up 6.8% from the year earlier.
Profit of about $135 million rose 10%. Motion picture sales declined by 23% to $410.6 million and profit by 12% to $82.2 million on tough comps from John Wick: Chapter Four the year before. (Profit of $319.6 million for the full fiscal year was the highest in a decade, the company noted.) Television production revenue surged 61% to $469 million on profit of $52.6 million – both driven by strength in library sales and an increase in post-strike content deliveries.
The improvement was solid but a surprise. Media Networks led by Starz saw domestic revenue up on a sequential basis for the third quarter in a row.
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