Walt Disney last night reported 'spectacular' annual earnings due to robust growth across its entertainment and media operations.
Disney's net profit for the final quarter of its fiscal year through September more than doubled to $782m, while over the full year profits rose 33% to $3.37 billion. The group's quarterly earnings came to 36 cents per share, two cents ahead of Wall Street forecasts.
Revenues increased 14% in the quarter to $8.8 billion, and were up 7.3% over the year at $34.3 billion.
Disney's Parks and Resorts division saw revenues rise 10% over the year to $9.9 billion, with profits up 30% to $1.5 billion. Profits at Disney's cable networks division increased 9.4% to $3 billion for the year 'primarily due to growth at ESPN from higher affiliate and advertising revenues'.
The revenue increases at Disney's sports network were partially offset by higher programming expenses due to new Major League Baseball and National Football League (NFL) rights agreements.
At Disney's Hollywood movie arm, profits leapt 252% to $729m in the year after the Miramax studio released fewer releases, so driving down launch costs. For the broadcast division, profits rose 30.6% to $606m in the year driven by improved primetime performance at the ABC television network.
