Viacom Sees Profit Hike

NEW YORK: Citing improvements in the advertising market, Viacom reported strong growth in its second quarter, with profit up 52 percent.

Viacom posted a profit of $420 million, up from $277 million a year earlier. Revenue was essentially flat at $3.3 billion. A 6-percent gain in advertising sales offset a decline of 43 percent in home-entertainment revenue. The company’s networks division saw revenue increase 6.4 percent and profit rise 14 percent. The filmed-entertainment segment saw revenue decline 9.8 percent, although the segment swung to an operating profit.

Sumner M. Redstone, the executive chairman of Viacom, said, "Viacom’s strong bottom-line results reflect our focused strategy, our creative ingenuity and our disciplined financial approach. We are very pleased with our consistent progress and the solid results that Viacom continues to deliver for shareholders."

Philippe Dauman, the president and CEO of Viacom, added, "Viacom has significantly strengthened its financial position, driving free cash flow and continuing to expand our operating margins, culminating this quarter with the delivery of Viacom’s first quarterly cash dividend. Importantly, this was achieved without sacrificing our investment in programming, which allows us to further build our brands, launch major new hits and create even stronger connections with our audiences. As a result, we are well positioned to capitalize on improving trends in the advertising market. We have strong slates of new and returning programming debuting in the coming months on MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Spike, Comedy Central and other networks, which we continue to deliver to audiences on multiple screens and devices.

"At Paramount Pictures, our film slate strategy focused on franchise opportunities coupled with the studio’s continued bottom-line vigilance is generating strong results. Our tentpole releases, Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2 and DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek Forever After, both rank among the top five films in domestic box office for the year."