Lionsgate Narrows Second Quarter Loss on Strength in Television

Lionsgate Entertainment narrowed its fiscal second quarter net loss year-over-year to $24.6 million as gains from its sale of Maple Pictures and EPIX earnings helped offset underperformance in films.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based company reported on Wednesday a quarterly revenue of $358.1 million, down $98.2 million compared to the year-earlier period. Motion Picture revenue totaled $218.9 million, down 36 percent from the year-earlier period.

Last year's motion-picture revenue was given a hefty boost by The Expendables, which generated a whopping $274 million at the box office.

Although we were disappointed by the performance of our films in the quarter, we were pleased with the strong and growing contributions of all other core businesses, CEO Jon Feltheimer said in a statement.

The company's earnings were an improvement compared to last year, when the company posted a net loss of $29.7 million. The company attributed the success in part to the gain on the $11 million sale of Maple Pictures and earnings of $6.1 million for the company's share of premium television channel EPIX.

Another bright spot for the company came from television production, which reached a record $139.2 million in the quarter. The company attributed the 21 percent revenue boost to the success of shows such as Weeds, Blue Mountain State and Meet the Browns.

Shares of Lionsgate are down 3.56 percent to $8.40.