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Marvel's Profits Leap With Spidey Revenues

Posted: Wednesday, October 30
By: Jason Brice

Marvel Enterprises Inc. on Wednesday reported sharply rising fortunes as the hit movie Spider-Man led it to a quarterly profit over last year's loss.

Marvel said the summer blockbuster, which has hauled in over $807 million in global ticket sales, also has boosted Marvel's own revenues across all its divisions -- toys, licensing and publishing.

Marvel reported a third quarter net profit of $6.7 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $5.1 million, or 15 cents a share, last year, which included one-time gains.

Quarterly revenues nearly doubled to $84.4 million from $43 million, knocking the lights out of guidance from Marvel just last week, when it raised its third quarter revenue forecast by $18 million to a range of $63 million to $68 million.

Marvel said it now expects to post net income of $1 million to $5 million in the fourth quarter, based on revenues from $63 million to $68 million.

The fourth quarter forecast boosted guidance for full year 2002 to total sales between $275 million and $280 million and net income of $21 million to $24 million.

Marvel said it expects 2002 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to range from $72 million to $77 million, up from a previous $68 million to $73 million range. EBITDA is a common performance measure for media companies.

Source: Reuters