Media and entertainment giant Walt Disney said last night that its quarterly profit rose 7% from a year earlier to $734m on strength in television and resort and theme park operations.
The company said the earnings excluding once-off gains and losses amounted to 35 cents a share, well ahead of the average Wall Street estimate of 30 cents per share. Revenue rose 2.2% to $8.85 billion in its first quarter to the end of December.
The company said growth in its parks and resorts, media networks and consumer products units offset lower results from its Hollywood studios.
The media networks division, which includes the ABC and ESPN television operations, saw revenues up 6% to $3.7 billion and operating profit up 7% to $606m. The parks and resorts unit saw 13% sales growth to $2.4 billion, with profits up 51% to $375m, led by improved results at domestic resorts and jointly operated international resorts.
The main disappointment for Disney came in the studio area, despite successes from the 'Chronicles of Narnia' and 'Chicken Little'. Studio entertainment revenues for the quarter decreased 13% to $2 billion and operating income plunged 60% to $128m.
