Viacom Q3 Profit Declines, Revenues Miss View

(RTTNews) - Media conglomerate Viacom, Inc. (VIA, VIAB) on Thursday reported a 3 percent decline in profit for the third quarter from last year, reflecting lower revenues in the Filmed Entertainment segment as there were no wide theatrical releases in the quarter.

However, adjusted earnings per share for the quarter matched analysts' expectations, while revenues missed their estimates.

Third-quarter net earnings attributable to Viacom, the owner of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, declined to $591 million from $610 million in the same period last year, while earnings per share rose to $1.47 from $1.40 on lower share count.

Adjusted net earnings attributable to Viacom for the quarter were $591 million or $1.47 per share, compared to $618 million or $1.42 per share a year ago.

On average, 30 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.47 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter declined 11 percent to $3.06 billion from $3.42 billion in the year-ago period, due to lower theatrical revenues in Filmed Entertainment, which scheduled no wide theatrical releases in the quarter. Analysts' revenue consensus was $3.22 billion.

Media Networks' revenues for the quarter edged up slightly from last year to $2.60 billion, primarily due to higher affiliate fees. Excluding an unfavorable 2 percent impact of foreign exchange, revenues increased 2 percent.

Domestic and worldwide affiliate revenues increased 2 percent, driven by rate increases.

Meanwhile, domestic advertising revenues declined 9 percent, reflecting a decline in traditional ratings. Worldwide advertising revenues decreased 2 percent, despite a 58 percent surge in international advertising revenues driven by Channel 5, which was acquired in September 2014.

Filmed Entertainment's revenues for the quarter decreased 44 percent to $479 million, largely due to a decline in theatrical revenues of 92 percent related to the timing of the summer season theatrical slate.

Viacom noted that "Transformers: Age of Extinction" was released in the prior-year quarter, while this year's summer tentpoles, "Terminator: Genisys" and "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation", were widely released in the fourth quarter.

Worldwide home entertainment revenues decreased 30 percent to $199 million.

Viacom's total expenses for the quarter declined 15 percent from the year-ago period to $1.97 billion.

VIA is trading at $46.49, down $5.18 or 10.03 percent on a volume of 79,856 shares. VIAB is trading at $45.59, down $5.82 or 11.32 percent on a volume of 4.71 million shares.