Movie merchandise helps transform Hasbro's bottom line
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Talking cars aren't just big hits in movie theaters this summer but in toy aisles as well.
Strong demand for merchandise from "Transformers" Dark of the Moon" helped boost Hasbro Inc.'s second-quarter revenue up 23 percent, the toy maker said Monday.
"As expected, top-line momentum in our business began to build during the quarter, led by strong gains in the Transformers brand, driven by the movie that was released June 29," said Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner. He added that the movie has grossed $700 million globally so far and has not yet opened in China and Japan.
The brand has performed particularly well internationally, where the company has licensed everything from clothing to skateboards and bikes to video games.
Toys tied into movies tend to do well for toy makers becayse they benefit from movie studio promotion and sales to collectors.
This summer has seen a bumper crop of movies that have strong tie ins.
In addition to the Transformers movie, Hasbro has toys related to "Thor" which opened in May and "Captain America: The First Avenger," which opens Friday. Goldner said Captain America toys were "selling well" ahead of the opening.
In addition to sales of Transformers, other toys in Hasbro's boys division, such as Beyblade, a popular spinning top game, were strong. Sales of boys' toys rose 96 percent to $460.4 million.
Girls' toys were weaker, down 11 percent to $119.1 million. The Pawtucket, R.I.-based company's games division, which includes widely known games like Scrabble and Monopoly, also was weak.
The division has experienced falling demand and a glut in supply. Revenue from games and puzzles fell 12 percent to $231.3 million, as the company discounted items to clear out excess inventory.
The company said Monday it is reorganizing the division, including cutting 96 jobs and relocating 59 others to Rhode Island from East Longmeadow, Mass.
The reorganization will help the traditional games division and digital and online games work more closely together, Goldner said.
Overall, Hasbro's net income for the three months ending June 26 rose to $58.1 million, or 42 cents per share, from $43.6 million, or 29 cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding a tax adjustment and costs for reorganizing its games department, however, earnings were 33 cents per share. That fell short of analyst expectations of 39 cents per share, according to Fact Set. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Revenue rose 23 percent to $908.5 million from $737.8 million. That beat Wall Street expectations of $848.8 million.
Charles Schwab
BOSTON — Discount broker Charles Schwab Co. said Monday that its second-quarter profit rose 16 percent as growth in its advisory business for individual investors offset a decline in trading revenue.
The San Francisco-based company reported net income of $238 million, or 20 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30.
That was up from $205 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. The results were slightly ahead of the 19 cents per share forecast by analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue rose 10 percent to $1.19 billion from $1.08 billion, in line with forecasts.
Assets in accounts geared toward individual investors who receive investment advice from the company jumped 20 percent to $113 billion at the end of June.
Adding assets managed by independent fee-based advisers who offer Schwab mutual funds and other investments to clients, Schwab's total assets for which clients receive advisory services rose 17 percent to $811 billion.
Those gains helped lift Schwab's asset management and administration revenue 15 percent, to $502 million, from $437 million in the year-ago period.
Gannett
NEW YORK — Gannett Co., the publisher of USA Today and more than 80 other daily newspapers, said Monday that its second quarter net income declined 23 percent, dragged down by lower ad revenue in its publishing segment.
Still, the nation's largest newspaper publisher said its results are showing improvement, and to show confidence in its business prospects, Gannett said it is resuming share buybacks and doubled its quarterly dividend.
Improvements in Gannett's digital and broadcast division have not been enough to overcome declines in its publishing business, which still relies mostly on print advertising.
Gannett said its net income fell to $151.5 million, or 62 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 26. That's down from $195.5 million, or 81 cents per share, at the same time last year.
Excluding one-time items, Gannett earned 58 cents per share.
Halliburton
NEW YORK — The expansion of oil and natural gas drilling in North America continued to drive Halliburton Co. as its earnings jumped by nearly 54 percent in the second quarter. Revenue also hit a company record for the period.
The Houston oil services company on Monday kicked off earnings season for the industry with reported earnings of $739 million, or 80 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30.
That compares with $480 million, or 53 cents per share, for the same part of 2010.
Revenue increased 35.2 percent to $5.94 billion.
Excluding employee-separation costs, quarterly earnings were 81 cents per share.
The results beat Wall Street earnings expectations of 73 cents per share on revenue of $5.64 billion, according to FactSet.
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