TORONTO – The Score Media broke even in the second quarter ended February 29, with net income down $0.3 million from the same period a year earlier, according to financial results released Wednesday.
The company attributed the decline “largely due to a restructuring provision recorded in the second quarter of fiscal 2008 in the amount of $0.9 million.”
Revenue in the quarter was $8.4 million, up $0.7 million from $7.7 million in the same period a year earlier, but operating costs increased due to anticipated increased spending for high definition television programming, higher rights fees associated with broadcasting live events, and larger investment in the company’s emerging business units.
Production and other direct expenses were $3.6 million for the quarter, compared with $3.3 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
Highlights of the quarter include web traffic to the Score.com reaching record levels in February and March, partly due to extensive coverage of NCAA basketball and real-time coverage leading up to the NHL trade deadline. As well, ScoreMobile 2.0 launched on Bell Mobility and Rogers Wireless, and is now available across Canada on all three major wireless carriers.
In March 2008, ScoreMobile iPhone edition achieved record traffic levels with over 27,000 unique visitors, 150,000 visit sessions, and 500,000 page views.
The company attributed its revenue growth to a combination of greater television subscriber revenue, increases in television advertising revenues, and increased revenues from Hardcore Sports Radio and Score Media’s interactive properties that were launched during the past two years.
Television subscriber revenue increased approximately $0.1 million and TV advertising money rose by about $0.2 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2008 compared to the same quarter a year earlier. The emerging business units provided increased revenue of approximately $0.4 million compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2007.
“This quarter, we incurred significant restructuring costs as we took steps to more closely align our operational departments with our growth strategy,” said John Levy, chair and CEO of Score Media Inc. “We achieved the level of growth in the business that was anticipated, however, overall profitability was impacted by our decision to re-align the company to capitalize on future growth prospects.”
