Lions Gate Posts Q2 Loss, Shares Fall

Shares of

fell more than 6 percent in after-hours trading after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its second quarter on Monday. The Santa Monica, California-based company posted a quarterly loss of $42.1 million, or $0.28 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $20.8 million, or $0.15 per share. Excluding items, the company lost $0.19 per share. Its revenue slipped 14 percent to $476.8 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $491 million. Motion Picture segment revenue slipped to $354.0 million for the quarter, versus $398.0 million in the year-ago quarter. Theatrical revenue dropped to $26.3 million in the quarter, while Television production segment revenue shrank to $122.8 million from $154.9 million. Its adjusted EBITDA shrank to negative $8.1 million for the latest quarter, versus adjusted EBITDA of $59.0 million in the year-ago quarter. "Although this quarter will be the lightest of the year due to timing and softer-than-anticipated performance of some of our recent film releases, our robust film and television pipelines position us for a very strong second half of the year," said Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer. During the quarter, Lions Gate raised its quarterly cash dividend by 29 percent to $0.09 per share. Lions Gate shares dipped 6.61 percent to $35.75 in the after-hours trading session.