Lionsgate revenue falls, profit grows amid pandemic

Lionsgate Entertainment Corp., an entertainment company headquartered in California, reported on Thursday a fiscal second-quarter revenue of 745 million U.S. dollars, down more than 20 percent from 938 million the year earlier amid the ongoing pandemic.

The company also reported a net loss of 18.4 million dollars for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2020.

Revenues of the company's Motion Picture segment declined to 257.6 million dollars due to closing of theaters associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, partially offset by the performance of titles in the premium video-on-demand (PVOD) market and digital home entertainment platforms. But the segment's profit grew 63 percent to 83 million dollars thanks to strong demand for library content and lower distribution and marketing costs.

Lionsgate also said that its television production segment revenue declined to 197.2 million dollars compared to 274.0 million dollars in the same period last year, primarily due to the timing of production schedules and episodic deliveries.

Meanwhile, STARZ, a premium cable and satellite television network owned by the company, reported its best domestic over-the-top (OTT) subscriber growth quarter ever as domestic OTT subscribers increased to 9.2 million, up from 7.4 million in the prior sequential quarter.

The company's media networks segment revenue of 388.3 million dollars was up 3.8 percent year-o- year while segment profit was 92.9 million dollars. Revenues were driven by strong growth in streaming subscriber growth.

"We're pleased to report another strong quarter, including record over-the-top subscriber growth at STARZ both domestically and internationally," said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer in a release.

"Together with the resumption of film and television production and another great revenue performance from our library, it added up to a quarter that reflected strong financial results, acceleration of our key non-financial metrics, and affirmation of the business plan we created four years ago with the acquisition of STARZ and our pivot to the streaming world," he added.