Viacom released its third quarter 2015 financials on Thursday before the U.S. stock markets opened, matching earnings expectations but falling below revenue projections as TV ratings dipped and no major movie releases helped its cause.
The company delivered $1.47 per share on revenue of $3.06 billion , up from $1.42 per share and $3.22 billion in revenue year-over-year.
Wall Street had forecast Class B (non-voting) EPS of $1.47 on $3.22 billion in revenue, according to numbers compiled by Yahoo Finance.
The revenue performance was down 11 percent year-over-year in large part due to a poor film performance, which had no wide theatrical releases in the quarter.
Media Networks revenues increased $6 million to $2.60 billion due to higher affiliate fees. Domestic advertising revenues dropped nine percent as TV ratings declined. Filmed Entertainment revenues dropped 44 percent to $479 million in large part due to decline in theatrical revenues of 92 percent as no major theatrical releases occurred (“Terminator: Genisys” and “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” will be released in the fourth quarter).
“Underpinning this, we are operating more efficiently than ever, accelerating content development and delivering programming more quickly to audiences on all screens. We maintain a strong balance sheet, giving us significant financial flexibility and we remain committed to resuming Viacom’s share repurchase program in October,” Viacom President and CEO Philippe Dauman said.
On the company’s earning call, Dauman announced Paramount will increase its film slate to 15 movies next year.