Lionsgate Misses on Revenue Projections, Reporting $45.4 Million Net Loss for Last Quarter

Lionsgate on Thursday reported Q1 earnings for the fiscal 2022 year, noting a revenue of $901.2 million and a net loss attributable to shareholders of $45.4 million, or 20 cents a share.

Analysts following the stock via Yahoo Finance had expected Lionsgate to report a revenue of $904.4 million and a loss of 18 cents per share. Lionsgate’s revenue is up from last quarter, when the company reported $876.4 million in revenue.

“I’m pleased to report that we were able to lean into our resilient business model to drive strong financial results in the quarter,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said. “We filled our content pipelines with exciting new properties and added valuable new titles to our library. Like the rest of the industry, Starz subscriber growth was impacted by the decline in at-home viewership and, importantly, a light content quarter due to COVID-driven production delays.  However, the strong opening of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ two weeks after the quarter ended sparked a return to strong global subscriber growth which we expect to continue for the rest of the year.”

Revenue from the company’s film and TV library was $740 million for the trailing 12 months, with the company recently announcing its acquisition of the Spyglass Media Group library. Lionsgate recently released “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, which grossed $66 million worldwide.

The Media Networks segment revenue was up 4% from the prior year quarter with a revenue of $382.3 million. The Motion Picture segment revenue was also up 4% to $291.2 million, although segment profit declined to $44.3 million compared to the prior year quarter’s $101.1 million. This is attributable to higher P&A spend now that theaters have reopened.

The TV segment, on the other hand, was up 97% to the prior year quarter, reporting $386.1 million in revenue and a segment profit of $4 million due to new series orders. According to Lionsgate Television, it had 13 new series orders, seven pilots picked up to series and all of last year’s freshman series renewed for second seasons.

Total Media Networks global subscribers increased to 28.9 million year-over-year, which included STARZPLAY Arabia. Global OTT subscribers increased by 58% year-over-year to 16.7 million. Additionally, STARZPLAY International subscribers grew 106% year-over-year to 7 million.