Hasbro Third-Quarter Earnings Decline Amid Weaker 'Transformers' Toy Sales

LONDON - Hasbro on Monday reported xxx third-quarter earnings amid continued difficult year-ago comparisons when Transformers toy sales were boosted by a movie release.

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The toy giant posted earnings of $164.9 million, compared with $171.0 million in the year-ago period. Revenue declined from $1.38 billion to $1.35 billion, but rose 1 percent to $1.39 billion when excluding negative currency conversion effects.



The company didn't immediately disclose detailed information on toy sales for Marvel properties Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man, but confirmed analysts' predictions that they would be among the positive contributors to the latest results thanks to recent film releases.

In the boys segment, Hasbro's revenue decreased 12 percent to $471.1 million. "Marvel products continued to post strong year-over-year gains globally, which were more than offset by expected declines in Transformers and Beyblade products," Hasbro said.

Overall entertainment and licensing segment revenue amounted to  $43.1 million, compared with $46.3 million in the year-ago period. "The segment continued to benefit from the sale of television programming in all formats in the U.S. and internationally offset by lower movie-related revenues," the firm said. The unit reported an operating profit of $10.7 million, compared with $15.3 million in the year-ago period.



"We remain cautious toward Hasbro based on a soft environment for toy sales" and  "ongoing global macroeconomic issues,
MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler said before the earnings report. "The U.S. market is down roughly 7 percent through August."



Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com


Twitter: @georgszalai