Though it wasn’t quite as good as it could have been – last October it briefly hit a record peak of £4.49 – 2018 was still a decent year for the media company. Opening at £3.21, the stock closed December at £3.53, marking a solid 9.7% increase over 12 months.
It has really picked up the pace in 2019, however. Testing the all-time highs struck almost 6 months ago, the firm found itself at £4.46 at the end of March, before pulling back slightly. Entertainment One PLC now sits at a current trading price of £4.34.
Though it has been on the up and up this year, that rise is as yet untested by a trading statement. That’s because the company’s last release came back in November, when it posted its half year results. The main takeaway was its reported group pre-tax loss of £40 million – adjusted pre-tax profit rose 7% to £42 million – after the firm took a £57 million one-off charge.
That broke down as £16.8 million relating to the ‘lowering of previous expectations’ regarding the home entertainment business; a £22.9 million write-off of DVD stock; £13.4 million in bad debt; and £3.9 million in severance and staff costs relating to its home entertainment problems.
Elsewhere revenue dropped 2% to £404.9 million, as a 29% rise in its Peppa Pig-fuelled Family & Brands arm was spoiled by a 7% decline in the far more prominent Film & Television division. This latter slide was driven by ‘fewer releases and deliveries’ over the period.
That film slate will be busier in the second half, with Entertainment One highlighting the releases of Vice, On the Basis of Sex, If Beale Street Could Talk, Stan & Ollie and Best Picture-winner Green Book. Word on this, and its continued shift from distribution to production, will be wanted on Thursday, ditto an update on the growth of its Family brands.
Entertainment One (LON:ETO) has a consensus rating of ‘Buy’ alongside an average target price of £4.56.
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