Quarterly losses shrank at Lionsgate and revenues climbed as the company’s television business rebounded from the twin strikes that had shut down production for much of 2023.
Revenue at the company behind “The Hunger Games” and “John Wick” franchises topped out at $1.12 billion for the three-month period ending in March, up from $1.08 billion in the prior-year quarter. Lionsgate also reported a net loss attributable to shareholder of $39.5 million, which compared favorably to the prior-year quarterly losses of $96.8 million. It recorded a loss of 22 cent per-share for the period. In the year-ago quarter, Lionsgate had per-share losses of 42 cents. Lionsgate’s revenues beat Wall Street estimates of $1.11 billion.
The earnings report comes after Lionsgate Studios debuted as a standalone public entity on May 14, trading as a single class of stock under the Nasdaq ticker symbol LION — a step toward the full separation of its studio business and Starz. Through the merger with special-purpose acquisition company Screaming Eagle Acquisition Corp., Lionsgate Studios raised $350 million from a group of investors and gave it an enterprise value of about $4.6 billion.
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The company continues to anticipate that the full separation of Lionsgate Studios and Lionsgate (i.e. Starz) will occur by the end of calendar year 2024. Currently about 87% of the total shares of Lionsgate Studios are held by Lionsgate. Lionsgate Studios is comprised of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group and Television Studio segments along with a film and TV library that includes 20,000-plus titles.
In a call with analysts shortly after announcing the company’s results, Jon Feltheimer, who serves as CEO of both companies, touted the benefits of the separation. “Last week’s launch of Lionsgate Studios is more than just an opportunity to shine a light on the tremendous value of the content we’re creating, owning and delivering,” he said. “It is also an important step forward in fully separating our studio and Starz by the end of the calendar year in order to simplify our structure, unlock opportunities to scale our respective businesses and create incremental value for our shareholders.”
Lionsgate’s television business was the star of the quarter. Segment revenue increased 61% to $469.3 million, with profits jumping 83% to $52.6 million. That was due to a combination of library sales, including SVOD licensing of its hit comedy “Ghosts,” as well as “post-strike content deliveries. ” The film business had difficult comparisons to the prior-year period, which saw the release of “John Wick: Chapter 4.” Revenue fell 23% to $410.6 million and segment profit declined by 12% to $82.2 million.
Lionsgate’s media networks’ business, which includes its streaming service, struggled. Net subscribers in the U.S. decreased by 480,000 which segment revenue fell 7.1% to $361.5 million. Segment profit declined by 28.4% to $52.5 million.
Lionsgate shares were up slightly following its quarterly report. They closed Thursday down 2.49%.
Todd Spangler contributed to this report.
