Canadian indie producer and distributor Entertainment One saw a 9% full-year revenue drop on pre-tax profit.
eOne’s film business was weak this year, and only offset by sales of Peppa Pig brands.
The Toronto-based eOne trades on the London Stock Exchange. The producer and distributor reported that pre-tax profits for the year dropped 43% to $46.7 million from last year’s $82 million USD.
The company’s music division spans a number of different areas, including distribution (digital and physical), artist development, music publishing, and indie recording.
Total revenues for eOne were down 9% to $1.19 billion USD in 2019.
eOne’s full-year profit was undercut by higher financing charges and a one-off charge of $83 million USD. That charge is related to the impairment of assets within the film distribution businesses and their associated costs. Adjusted pre-tax profits after removing these one-off costs rose 20% to $203 million USD.
The Canadian producer has had fewer movie releases after it restructured its film distribution business. Key releases during this period were Green Book, Vice, and Stan & Ollie. Growth in the company’s family and brands division was spurred by strong sales of its Peppa Pig property, with the highest growth in China.
The newly combined TV and music division, including The Mark Gordon company, was down 13% to $1.02 billion USD.
The report says lower transactional, broadcast, licensing, and production revenue is the cause of the drop. eOne CEO Darren Throop says the restructuring and organizational shifts the company has completed will soon pay off.
“The work and organizational shifts that we have accomplished over the last few years have positioned the business well in the marketplace, as we reinforced our content creation and ownership anchor and expanded our end-to-end capabilities to ensure we maximize our ability to unlock the power and value of creativity.”
The family and brands division of eOne is looking to expand its Peppa Pig growth while introducing new content. Ricky Zoom is a new show that will debut in China this summer, with a global launch in the fall. eOne says China is emerging as a top-tier kid’s market rival to the US.
Closer to the music side, the company also recently acquired Audio Network, a UK-based music publisher for $226 million USD. It also recently named Bill Wilson as its Senior Vice President of Digital Operations and Innovation, Music.