Viacom 4Q profit up, helped by 'World War Z' film

Viacom's fourth-quarter profit rose 24 per cent, helped by the success of the film "World War Z" and greater advertising revenue.
President and CEO Philippe Dauman today said that in addition to the box office success of the zombie movie starring Brad Pitt, the company's film division also got a boost from home movie sales related to its Star Trek and GI Joe franchises.
The New York company, which owns Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, earned USD 804 million, or USD 1.68 per share, for the three months ended September 30.
That's up from USD 650 million, or USD 1.26 per share, in the same quarter the year before.

Excluding a gain on the sale of some investments, restructuring charges and other items, Viacom's earnings from continuing operations for the quarter ended September 30 totaled USD 1.55 per share.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of USD 1.44 per share.

Revenue climbed 9 per cent to USD 3.65 billion from USD 3.36 billion, but that fell short of average Wall Street predictions of USD 3.58 billion.
Revenue from media networks increased 7 per cent to USD 2.46 billion, as domestic advertising revenue and affiliate fees rose, while filmed entertainment revenue increased 11 per cent to USD 1.21 billion on increases in box office revenue and home entertainment sales.

Dauman noted that ratings rose year-over-year at nearly all of the company's networks during the recent quarter, including Nickelodeon, MTV, comedy central, BET and Spike. Higher ratings allow networks to charge more for advertising.
For the current quarter, Viacom said it expects "mid-single-digit" growth in advertising sales, helped by new programing that it thinks will draw in viewers.
The company also said it still expects affiliate revenue growth in the "high-single-digit to low-double-digit range" for fiscal 2014.
For the full fiscal year 2013, Viacom earned USD 2.4 billion, or USD 4.84 per share, up from USD 1.98 billion, or USD 3.69 per share. Revenue fell slightly to USD 13.79 billion from USD 13.89 billion.

Viacom shares fell USD 1.35 to USD 81.80 in morning trading.