Walt Disney Company Sees Higher Quarterly Earnings

November 7, 2014 World Screen

BURBANK: The Walt Disney Company reported profit for the fourth quarter of $1.5 billion, an 8 percent gain, on revenue of $12.4 billion, thanks to a succession of hit movies.

Studio Entertainment revenues for the quarter increased 18 percent to $1.8 billion, and segment operating income increased $146 million to $254 million. Higher operating income was driven by increases in worldwide theatrical distribution and worldwide home entertainment. Higher worldwide theatrical distribution results were due to the success of Guardians of the Galaxy and Maleficent in the current quarter. The increase in worldwide home entertainment was due to the success of Frozen.

Media Networks revenues for the quarter increased 5 percent to $5.2 billion, and segment operating income was essentially flat at $1.4 billion. Operating income at Cable Networks decreased $10 million to $1.3 billion for the quarter. Lower operating income was attributed to a decrease at ESPN and the international Disney Channels, partially offset by an increase at the U.S. Disney Channels. Operating income at Broadcasting increased $5 million to $163 million for the quarter. The increase in operating income was due to affiliate revenue growth and higher income from program sales, partially offset by higher prime-time programming costs and lower advertising revenue.

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Parks and Resorts revenues for the quarter increased 7 percent to $4 billion, and segment operating income increased 20 percent to $687 million. Operating income growth for the quarter was due to an increase at the U.S. operations, partially offset by a decrease at the international operations.

Consumer Products revenues for the quarter increased 7 percent to $1.1 billion, and segment operating income increased 9 percent to $379 million. Higher operating income was due to an increase in the Merchandise Licensing business, driven by the performance of Frozen and Spider-Man merchandise partially offset by lower revenues from Monsters and Iron Man merchandise.

Interactive revenues for the quarter decreased by $34 million to $362 million, and segment operating income increased to $18 million driven by the success of the mobile game Tsum Tsum and recognition of a minimum guarantee for a games licensing contract. These increases were partially offset by lower Disney Infinity performance due to the timing of the launch of Disney Infinity 2.0, which was launched on September 23, 2014, compared to Disney Infinity 1.0, which was launched on August 18, 2013.

“Our results for Fiscal 2014 were the highest in the company’s history, marking our fourth consecutive year of record performance,” said Robert A. Iger, the chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. “We’re obviously very pleased with this achievement and believe it reflects the extraordinary quality of our content and our unique ability to leverage success across the company to create significant value, as well as our focus on embracing and adapting to emerging consumer trends and technology.”