SANTA MONICA, Calif. and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 9 /CNW/ --

Basic Net Income Per Common Share Is $0.27 In Second Quarter Compared To
Basic Net Loss of $0.44 In Prior Year's Second Quarter
Company Reports Revenues of $781.4 Million, Net Income of $68.1 Million
And
Adjusted EBITDA of $107.7 Million For First Six Months of Fiscal 2010
Compared to Revenues of $679.2 Million, Net Loss of $48.3 Million And
Adjusted EBITDA of Negative $18.6 Million In Prior Year's First Six Months

Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), the leading next generation studio, continued its solid growth momentum and, bolstered by strong gains in its television production business, new revenue from TV Guide Network and TV Guide.com and reduced theatrical marketing costs, reported revenues of $393.7 million and net income attributable to Lionsgate shareholders of $31.7 million for the fiscal 2010 second quarter ended September 30, 2009, the Company announced today. Basic net income per common share was $0.27 on 117.3 million weighted average common shares outstanding, compared to basic net loss of $0.44 on 116.9 million weighted average common shares outstanding in the prior year's second quarter. Theatrical marketing costs in the quarter were $37.6 million, a 66% decline from $109.7 million in the prior year's second quarter.

The Company reported adjusted EBITDA of $54.4 million in the second quarter compared to adjusted EBITDA of negative $35.9 million for the prior year's second quarter. Adjustments in the quarter were made for non-cash stock options, stock appreciation rights and restricted stock units, certain non-recurring charges and non-risk prints and advertising expense, and the deduction of Lionsgate's partners' share of EBITDA attributed to TV Guide. EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, income tax provision, depreciation and amortization, equity interests and gains on extinguishment of debt and the sale of equity securities.

Second quarter revenues were $393.7 million, an increase of 3% compared to $380.7 million in the prior year's second quarter, reflecting continued strong growth in television production revenues and new revenue of $27.7 million from TV Guide Network and TV Guide.com in the quarter.

For the six months ended September 30, 2009, Lionsgate reported revenues of $781.4 million, net income attributable to Lionsgate shareholders of $68.1 million and adjusted EBITDA of $107.7 million. This compared to revenues of $679.2 million, net loss of $48.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of negative $18.6 million in the prior year's first six months. Basic net income per common share for the six months ended September 30, 2009 was $0.58 on 117.2 million weighted average common shares outstanding compared to basic net loss of $0.41 on 117.6 million weighted average common shares outstanding in the prior year's first six months.

"As anticipated, we had another strong financial quarter, showing what we can achieve from our diversified portfolio of businesses as we benefited from strong contributions from our television production operations and new revenue from TV Guide Network and TV Guide.com," said Lionsgate Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer. "We are on track to meet our financial targets for the year, and we believe that the current performance of our businesses, coupled with growing returns we anticipate from our new investments and the ultimate profitability we expect to achieve from next year's film slate and beyond, positions us for strong financial results in the future."

Overall motion picture revenue for the quarter of $277.1 million decreased $35.1 million, or 11%, compared to $312.2 million in the prior year's second quarter. Within the motion picture segment, theatrical revenue was $30.3 million, a decrease of 11% compared to the prior year second quarter, as the Company released Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself and Gamer in the quarter, compared to four wide releases in the prior year's second quarter.

Lionsgate's home entertainment revenue from the motion picture segment was $123.4 million in the quarter, a decline of 25% from the prior year's second quarter. The home entertainment slate in the quarter included such titles as Crank: High Voltage, The Haunting In Connecticut, Horsemen and continued sales of New In Town and Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail. Although titles such as Crank: High Voltage overconverted strongly, the underlying box office of new titles released in the quarter was lower than the underlying box office for the slate of The Forbidden Kingdom, Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns, The Bank Job and Rambo in the prior year's second quarter.

Television included in motion pictures revenue rose to $68.2 million in the second quarter, an increase of 10% from the prior year's second quarter, with a slate of Saw V, Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, Transporter 3, Bangkok Dangerous, Disaster Movie, My Best Friend's Girl, Religulous and "W." comparing favorably to a slate of 3:10 To Yuma, Good Luck Chuck, Saw IV, War and Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? in the prior year's second quarter.

International revenues of $27.5 million in the second quarter declined 4% from the prior year's second quarter. The principal revenue contributors in the quarter included My Bloody Valentine 3-D and Crank 2: High Voltage compared to 3:10 To Yuma, Employee of the Month, Saw IV and War in the prior year's second quarter.

Mandate Pictures' revenue of $25.7 million in the second quarter increased 21% from $21.2 million in the prior year's second quarter on a slate of Horsemen, Passengers and Whip It and a number of smaller titles compared to a slate of 30 Days of Night, Juno and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist in the prior year's second quarter.

Television production revenue increased to $88.9 million in the second quarter, a gain of 30% compared to $68.5 million in the prior year's second quarter, with a 14% increase in domestic series licensing from Lionsgate Television deliveries of seven episodes of Weeds Season 5 (Showtime), eight episodes of Mad Men Season 3 (AMC) and five episodes of Crash Season 2 (Starz) along with a 71% increase in revenues from Debmar-Mercury, primarily due to the licensing of such shows as Tyler Perry's House of Payne, its spinoff Meet The Browns and The Wendy Williams Show, as well as an 80% increase in international television sales and a 7% increase in revenue from home entertainment releases of television production.

Lionsgate senior management will hold its analyst and investor conference call to discuss its fiscal 2010 second quarter financial results at 9:00 A.M. ET/6:00 A.M. PT, Tuesday, November 10, 2009. Interested parties may participate live in the conference call by calling 1-800-401-8436 (612-332-0418 outside the U.S. and Canada). A full digital replay will be available from Tuesday morning, November 10, through Tuesday, November 17, by dialing 1-800-475-6701 (320-365-3844 outside the U.S. and Canada) and using access code 120735.

About Lionsgate

Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) is the leading next generation studio with a strong and diversified presence in the production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment, video-on-demand and digitally delivered content. The Company has built a strong television presence in production of prime time cable and broadcast network series, distribution and syndication of programming through Debmar-Mercury and an array of channel platform assets, including TV Guide Network in partnership with JPMorgan's One Equity Partners, the Epix multiplatform channel with partners Viacom and MGM, the FEARnet branded horror channel with partners Comcast and Sony, and the KIX and Thrill branded action and horror channels in Asia. Its feature film business achieved a number one box office opening weekend in September 2009 with the eighth film in the Tyler Perry franchise, I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF, and achieved one of the highest per screen averages in history with the platform release of PRECIOUS in November 2009. The Company's home entertainment business has grown to more than 7% market share and is an industry leader in its box office-to-DVD revenue conversion rate. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 12,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses.