Entertainment One Reports Fiscal Year Earnings On Track to Meet Expectations

By Georg Szalai for The Hollywood Reporter

Canadian producer and distributor Entertainment One on Wednesday said that earnings for its fiscal year are on track to hit management’s expectations. The company’s fiscal year started in April, and the firm provided an update on its performance ahead of the half-year mark.

Entertainment One’s financials have benefited from the $230 million acquisition of Alliance Films in January. The deal created the largest independent film distributor in the U.K. and Canada. The merged company also has broader international reach across the U.S., Australia, the Benelux countries and Spain.

“On a reported basis, group revenues and [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] are significantly higher than the comparative period, reflecting the acquisition of Alliance Films Holdings,” the company said about the first half of the year. “Trading in the first six months of the current financial year has continued in line with management expectations.”

Full-year earnings are “anticipated to be in line with management expectations,” Entertainment One added. The company didn’t detail any of its figures, which it is expected to release at a later date. Entertainment One also reiterated that its investment in content for the full fiscal year will rise to more than $385 million.

The group plans to release more than 250 films during the current financial year, including The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Ender’s Game. Prisoners and 12 Years a Slave are also part of the company’s release slate.

Entertainment One also mentioned on Wednesday that film revenue for the first half of its fiscal year was up “driven by increased number of box office releases and the performance of the enlarged library of films across the group.” But when adjusted for the Alliance deal, film revenue was in line with the year-ago period.

Entertainment One’s theatrical releases have included Now You See Me, Rush, The Place Beyond the Pines, Scary Movie 5, Insidious: Chapter 2 and Behind the Candelabra. Its DVD releases have included Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook.

“Digital revenues in the division have more than doubled in comparison to the prior year,” which has boosted the film unit’s margins, the firm said.

In its TV business, Entertainment One highlighted the continuing success of kids show Peppa Pig, which it said “continues to perform well internationally.” In the U.S., the show airs in one-hour primetime slots on Nick Jr. Monday to Sunday.

“Year-to-date, television production is in line with management expectations, and the production slate for the financial year includes commissioned renewals for season two of Saving Hope and Rogue, season three of Hell on Wheels and season four of Haven,” Entertainment One also said.

The company recently signed a new three-year output deal with AMC Networks, under which it will handle international distribution for all original scripted series from the cable networks operator’s U.S.-based channels.

This is an excerpt. Click here to read the full article in The Hollywood Reporter.