Viacom reports double-digital gains in quarter

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Viacom has reported double-digit gains for the quarter ended 30 June 2011.

Consolidated revenues in the quarter grew by 15 per cent to $3.77 billion, primarily driven by growth in affiliate, dvertising and television license revenues.
 
Adjusted operating income increased by 22 per cent to $995 million, fueled by Media Networks profit growth. Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to Viacom were up 35 per cent to $583 million with adjusted diluted EPS from continuing operations of $0.99, which represents a 39 per cent increase over the prior year‘s results of $0.71 per share.

Viacom president, CEO Philippe Dauman said, "The breadth of hit programming found across Viacom‘s media network portfolio continues to expand with top-rated shows and tentpole events on MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET and TV Land, as well as many of our international networks, all of which contributed to strong advertising growth and a
robust advertising upfront performance. We are strengthening our global entertainment brands and expanding our reach through new international and digital distribution and bringing our audiences the content they want on new platforms."

Paramount Pictures is the first studio ever to deliver a record six consecutive $100 million-plus domestic box office movies and it was the first studio to cross the $1 billion domestic box office threshold for the fifth year in a row.

Film revenues grew by 13 per cent to $1.41 billion due principally to higher television license fees and home entertainment revenues. The company‘s worldwide television license revenues were up by 36 per cent in the quarter to $416 million, driven by the number and mix of available titles.

Home entertainment revenues increased 33 per cent to $331
million, reflecting one additional release as compared with the prior year‘s quarter as well as the strength of the current year releases. Ancillary revenues also grew, up 57 per cent to $72 million.

These gains were partially offset by lower theatrical revenues, which were down nine per cent to $588 million, principally reflecting the timing of film releases.

"The prior year period benefited from strong carryover revenues from DreamWorks Animation‘s ‘How to Train Your
Dragon‘ whereas ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon‘ was released in the final week of the fiscal 2011 third quarter, which will result in the majority of the film‘s theatrical revenues occurring in the fiscal fourth quarter," the company said.