Image's fiscal 2009 sales jump 34%
PHYSICAL: Cast-driven titles boost revenue, meets forecast
By Danny King and Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 5/5/2009
MAY 5 | PHYSICAL: Image Entertainment's fiscal 2009 sales jumped 34% from a year earlier and were within the range previously forecast by the home entertainment distributor of independent films. The company, which terminated a buyout agreement last month, said it would continue to consider strategic alternatives.
Image's revenue for the year ended March 31 increased to $129 million from $96 million a year earlier, the company said in a preliminary earnings statement last week. Image had forecast sales of between $128 million and $131 million, or a midpoint of $129.5 million.
Image in February said its fiscal third-quarter sales jumped 43% from a year earlier as it boosted its cast-driven feature film titles. Best-selling DVDs during that quarter also included Jeff Dunham: Very Special Christmas Special, The Who: Live at Kilburn: 1977 and Ghost Hunters Season 4: Part 1, such as the Oct. 14 release of the Mena Suvari-starring Stuck.
Last month, Image terminated its agreement to be acquired by Nyx Acquisitions, a subsidiary of Q Black LLC, a San Francisco-based film producer and distributor. The ending of the agreement, which had Nyx paying about $100 million for Image, was Image’s second derailed merger in as many years. Last year, Image failed to complete a merger with BTP Acquisitions Corp., parent of ThinkFilm and Capitol Films, though it did come out with distribution rights to some ThinkFilm titles.
“With the recent termination of the Nyx merger agreement, we are focused on examining all potential corporate opportunities to maximize stockholder value, that will include assessing Image Entertainment’s business, capital needs and strategic alternatives," president and chief financial officer Jeff Framer said in the statement.
Image is scheduled to release full fiscal-year financial results by June 29.
