Hasbro 3Q earnings up

By Kimberley Donoghue
PBN Web Editor
Twitter: @kdonog

PAWTUCKET – Toymaker Hasbro Inc. said its net earnings increased 10 percent in the third quarter when compared to a year earlier.

Earnings were $171 million for the three months ended Sept. 25, or $1.27 per diluted share, compared to $155.2 million or $1.09 per diluted share in the third quarter 2010.

Net revenue for the period was $1.38 billion up 5 percent from $1.31 billion; foreign exchange had a positive $37.1 million impact on the third quarter 2011 revenue.

“We begin the fourth quarter with a number of encouraging factors supporting our full-year outlook. We have a great line up of innovative, sought-after toys and games for the holiday, many of which are only recently hitting retail shelves; our point-of-sale both in the U.S. and internationally is positive and showing good momentum; our U.S. retail inventories versus a year ago; and we continue to experience very strong trends in our international business,” said President and CEO Brian Goldner in a news release.

Nevertheless, operating profit in the U.S. and Canada segment dropped 19 percent to $128.79 million in the third quarter.

In a breakdown of net revenue by product class, the boys’ product category increased 15 percent to $534.6 million and the preschool category surged 12 percent to $217.4 million. Meanwhile, the games and puzzles category slumped 6 percent to $364.7 million, and the girls’ category declined 4 percent to $259.1 million.

The entertainment and licensing segment saw revenue growth fueled by licensing revenue associated with the sale of television programming globally, movie and merchandise-related revenue from “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” as well as a one-time payment from Universal Studios, Hasbro said. The entertainment and licensing segment reported operating profit of $15.25 million in the third quarter, up form $5.9 million in 2010.

The company repurchased 5.6 million shares in the quarter at an average price of $37.74.