RHI Entertainment, Inc. (RHIE), Thursday said it slipped to a fourth-quarter loss from profit in the corresponding quarter last year, hurt by a sharp decline in revenues as well as one-time charges.
The New York based company's net loss for the fourth quarter was $28.948 million or $2.14 per share, compared to a net income of $40.039 million in the same quarter last year. Fourth quarter results included goodwill impairment charges of $59.838 million.
On average, three analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected fourth-quarter earnings of $1.11 per share. Analysts estimate typically exclude special items such as one-time charges or gains.
Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter decreased to $75.0 million from $126.5 million in the same quarter last year, primarily due to the decline in production revenue during the fourth quarter of 2008 and the higher percentage of annual library revenue that was recorded in each of the first three quarters of 2008.
Net revenues for the fourth quarter plummeted to $97.244 million from $173.287 million in the comparable quarter last year. The Street estimated revenues of $146.13 million for the fourth quarter.
Library revenues for the fourth quarter decreased 25% to $47.1 million from $63.2 million in the same quarter a year ago, primarily due to the company's ability to record a higher percentage of its annual library revenue in each of the first three quarters of 2008 as compared to prior years.
Production revenues for the fourth quarter decreased more than 50% to $50.1 million from $110.1 million in the comparable quarter last year.
For the full year, net loss widened to $58.407 million from $22.6 million last year. Loss per share for the full year was $2.68.
Revenues for the full year 2008 decreased 2% to $226.4 million from $232.0 million a year ago. Three Wall Street analysts estimated revenues of $275.30 million for the full year.
RHIE closed regular trading session in Wednesday at $3.11 on a volume of 19k shares on the Nasdaq.
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