THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 1996 TAG: 9603280339
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Helped by improved ratings and ad-sales gains at The Family Channel, International Family Entertainment Inc. said its fourth-quarter 1995 earnings rose 11 percent.
IFE, based in Virginia Beach, posted net income of $5.31 million for the year's final quarter, up from $4.79 million a year before. Earnings per share actually were 11 cents vs. 10 cents the year before, excluding the negative effect on per-share earnings in the latest period from the conversion of preferred stock into common stock by IFE's largest shareholder, Liberty Media Corp.
IFE said its fourth-quarter revenues rose to $92 million from $79.5 million the year before, a 16 percent gain.
The biggest reason for the earnings improvement was IFE's flagship, the U.S. version of The Family Channel. Its fourth-quarter operating profit rose 38 percent to $18.5 million.
IFE's production and distribution unit, largely made up of MTM Entertainment, also registered a nearly sixfold gain in operating profit to $909,000.
The company's other operations all showed widening losses. They include its British version of The Family Channel, in which IFE announced last week it is selling its majority stake for cash and securities valued at $50 million; a Latin American Family Channel; its FIT TV health and fitness network, and its chain of live-music theaters.
For all of 1995, IFE posted net income of $18.7 million, up 25 percent from $14.8 million the year before. It reported total revenues of $294.9 million last year, up 22 percent from $242.1 million in 1994. by CNB