Lionsgate beat Wall Street estimates in its quarter ending Dec. 31, 2020, reporting a revenue of $836.4 million.
The company also reported a loss of 6 cents per share, although analysts following the stock via Yahoo Finance had expected Lionsgate to report a loss of 11 cents per share. Analysts had also expected revenue of $776.47 million. However, it fell short of the prior year’s quarter, with reported earnings being $998.5 million.
Lionsgate announced a net loss attributable to Lionsgate shareholders of $13.9 million and an adjusted net income attributable to Lionsgate shareholders of $45.9 million.
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“We’re pleased to report our fourth strong quarter in a row – strong in terms of financial results, global subscriber growth at STARZ and another outsized library performance, all reflecting the continued resilience of our business model,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said in a statement. “With the strong year we’re having in F21, we’re in great shape to take advantage of the imbalance between content supply and demand in the current environment with an increased investment in content and marketing across our core businesses in F22.”
Lionsgate’s motion picture segment reported revenue of $250.3 million due to fewer theatrical releases because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the prior-year quarter, the segment reported a revenue of $473.9 million. However, it reported a profit of $50 million, which was comparable to the $49 million reported in the prior-year quarter.
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TV production revenue was up by 20.5% from the prior-year quarter, coming in at $228.2 million with a segment profit of $29.5 million compared to a loss of $5.7 million in the prior-year quarter. Lionsgate attributes the strong quarter to its TV library revenues and the performance of 3 Arts Entertainment.
The company’s media networks segment revenue grew by 6% from the prior-year quarter resulting in $406.2 million, due to domestic and international OTT revenue and subscriber growth. STARZPLAY Arabia subscribers grew to 28 million, with global OTT subscribers increasing by 900,000 to $14.6 million. STARZPLAY International OTT subscribers grew 26% in the quarter and domestic OTT subscribers posted solid gains of 300,000.