Madison Square Garden Beats Expectations
NEW YORK (
) --
Madison Square Garden's
(MSG) - Get Report
earnings almost doubled in the third quarter, driven by improved revenue and operating income at its entertainment and media segments.
For the quarter ended September 30, the company saw earnings rise 90.7% to $19.3 million, or 25 cents per diluted share, compared with earnings of $10.1 million, or 14 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year ago. Earnings were ahead of analyst estimates of 15 cents a share.
Revenue rose 17.9% to $190.8 million from $161.8 million during the quarter, driven by strong gains in its entertainment and media segments.
Revenue from its media segment rose 17.4% to $133.4 million from $113.6 million due to an $18.7 million increase in affiliate fee revenue, attributable to higher contractual affiliation rates. Operating income rose 38.5% to $50.3 million from $36.3 million and advertising revenue increased $1.1 million.
Entertainment revenue rose 24.8% to $38.2 million from $30.6 million primarily due to a gain in event related revenue at the Madison Square Garden arena. Operating loss narrowed to $13.9 million from a loss of $18.8 million.
Its sports revenue rose 6% to $36.9 million from $34.8 million attributed to higher revenues from live sporting events held at the arena and an increase in sponsorship and signage revenues.
"Madison Square Garden continues to perform well on multiple fronts, with our strong third quarter results reflecting our continued operating momentum. We have more than doubled our adjusted operating cash flow over the first three quarters of 2010 and have grown our cash balance to over $325 million while continuing to fund the arena transformation project," president and CEO Hank Ratner said.
For the nine months ended September 30, earnings skyrocketed to $50.7 million, or 66 cents per share, compared with earnings of $4.3 million, or 6 cents, in the same period a year ago.
Revenue rose 11.4% to $724.5 million from $650.4 million.
-- Written by Theresa McCabe in Boston.
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