Mouse EARnings...

The Mouse seems to be doing quite well on Wall Street...

Yesterday, the Walt Disney Company released its second quarter earnings report to investors and the world.
And they beat expectations:

- Earnings were up 36 percent over the previous year.

- Net income went up 32 percent from a year ago.

- Media Networks had a 6 percent turnover.

- Studio Entertainment was up 13 percent.

- Parks and Resorts rose 14 percent.

- Consumer Products increased 12 percent ahead of 2012.

- Interactive (the Achille's heel of the Mouse) even was up 8 percent (Now if they'd only change their gaming strategy and buy a big name company.).

All in all, the investors are really happy with the direction of the company.  Critics may not agree with Iger's decision to acquisition his talent, but it's effect on the bottom line is boosting prospects for the company.  While parts of the entertainment giant have languished over periods of the past decade, the idea of bringing in successful talent to shore up the lack of creativity has/will produce results that put smiles on investor's faces.

It's a much more solidified/lean/dominating behemoth that Bob Iger plans on leaving his successor...

Disney's Hong Kong Fu-ture...

Money makes the Mouse go around...


A lot has went under the radar lately with the Mouse's Asian exploits...

Tokyo. Hong Kong. Shanghai. Tokyo is mentioned quite often on this site, as most of you know my love of Tokyo DisneySEA. I'll talk about Shanghai Disneyland in a future post, but not much has been mentioned of the fifth anniversary of Disney's first Chinese Gate.

Hong Kong Disneyland, the fifth Magic Kingdom style park celebrated half a decade earlier in the month and although the park/resort has had financial troubles from the get go, things are starting to look up. Having missed its first year target by about a quarter of a million visitors, the next year dropped off quite a bit as the novelty of the opening wore off. Now, even though it missed the original mark, it wasn't by much, there were over five million guests that went through those turnstiles. The parks' third year saw a bump from the second year, and last year was a modest bump up from that. This year the park seems to be improving on that and if the current trend continues then the attendance will get close to the first years mark. See that trend? If the current projections continue and the park keeps attracting a loyal, and growing following, then next year will see them break through the opening year numbers. The Chinese are slowly growing to like and appreciate what the Disney experience has to offer. With all the seasonal theming and holiday layovers that the entertainment division has come up with, the public is accepting the park as a permanent part of the Hong Kong setting.

There are cultural differences and obstacles that the Mouse has had to overcome, but they're slowly making progress. Much of this progress/learning will/has been applied to Shanghai. But the future is finally looking up with more guests entering the park, and just as important: spending money on food and merchandising. The financial troubles have led the company to not take any royalties it was contractually guaranteed during the last two years. That agreement has been reworked and is now tied to park performance. And with the uptake in the crowds on Lantau Island, that means that starting next year Disney will start taking in those profits again. And as more positive news happens, more optimism grows within WDI that other projects will be approved more quickly. After all, there's a lot of expansion room still left for the first park in Hong Kong even after the Extreme Expansion of 2011-14. The area to the south of the current expansion has many possibilities as well as several areas behind and beyond Fantasyland. There are many classic Disney attractions that Imagineers would love to add and plus in that section by or around the middle of this decade. As always, time will tell. And money will be the storyteller.

Notice I said "first" park? That's because the Mouse has a couple years on its deal before construction has to begin on a Second Gate or the land across the Esplanade is free for the government of Hong Kong to use or sell to another buyer. Will they do that? Not likely. Will Disney start work/break ground on a second gate by 2013? Again, not likely. What will likely happen is a renegotiation of the terms of the deal. An extension so to speak. An announcement of a second park will be an important and integral part of the resort's future, but not until the latter part of this decade. But with the attendance going up and construction of the new lands, the news coming out of Penny Bay is finally good news for Burbank.

And that's good news for you and I as well...

Profit Motive...

The Walt Disney Company released its financial quarterly numbers...

And it looks like Steve Jobs' touch on his other company may be rubbing off on the Mouse. Not that all the news was good, but a 40% profit jump is great news in this economy? Shareholders and Wall Street were very happy to hear the good news. Theme parks and Resorts were down slightly, with bookings in the hotels being one of the largest negatives. The films unit was the jewel, with the top three films of the year (all greenlit by former Suit, Dick Cook) made by Disney. The television unit, specifically ESPN also posted great numbers. All in all, a great showing for the entertainment giant in general, and Iger in particular.

It shows that Disney magic can sometimes even avoid a recession...

One Phat Cat...

Baller, Shotcaller and CEO...

If you're going to govern something known as a Kingdom, you might as well be a king.

Foolish Talk...

The Motley Fool provides some perspective on all the negative talk about the Mouse...

Discuss.

Keeping The Mouse House Finances In Order...

The Walt Disney Company released its financials for the third quarter(Q3) today...

- A 9 percent rise in net income for the third quarter based on the strength of Cable Networks.

- Net income of $1.284 billion or $0.66 per share, up from $1.178 billion or $0.57 per share the same quarter last year.

- Revenues in the latest quarter increased 2.1% to $9.24 billion from $9.05 billion in the previous year quarter. Beating most Wall Street analysts projections of $9.14 billion.

- Sequentially net income rose from $1.133 billion or $0.58 per share on revenues of $8.71 billion recorded in the second quarter of fiscal 2008.

- The Mouse announced that it bought back 93 million shares for $3.0 billion during the first nine-months period.

- Walt Disney's Media Networks grew 8% to $4.12 billion from $3.83 billion, while operating income increased 9% to $1.47 billion from $1.36 billion in the year-ago quarter.

- Income from cable networks grew 12% to $2.59 billion from $2.31 billion, income from broadcasting were $1.531 billion versus $1.524 billion in the corresponding period last year.

- Broadcasting divisions(read: ABC, ect.) witnessed 11% fall in operating income to $260 million from $293 million due to increased production cost for programs in syndication, lower advertising sales Disney owned television stations and costs for new scripted programming for the ABC Television network.

- The Parks and Resorts division contributed revenues of $3.0 billion, up 5% from $2.9 billion and operating income increased 3% to $641 million from $621 million in the year-ago quarter.

- Disney said that revenue growth at Disneyland Resort Paris was a bright spot mainly due to favorable currency translation and increased guest spending and attendance.

- The Walt Disney Company disclosed its higher operating income was achieved as a result of improved performances at its Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort Paris, which partly offset by a fall in income at the Disneyland Resort.

- Walt Disney Studio generated a revenue of $1.43 billion, 19% lower than $1.78 billion in the previous year, 2007. Operating income plummeted 49% to $97 million from $190 million in the prior year quarter. This was due to the drop in worldwide theatrical distribution(read: number of films as well as successful films).

- Disney Consumer Products reported revenues of $642 million, up 20% from $537 million, but operating income slipped 4% to $113 million from $118 million a year earlier quarter.

- For the year-to-date period, Walt Disney reported net income of $3.67 billion, down from $3.81 billion but earnings per share rose to $1.87 from $1.81 in the year earlier period.

- Revenues increased to $28.4 billion from $26.6 billion in the corresponding period from last year.

Not bad. Disney seems to have weathered the economic slowdown quite well... let's just hope the economy continues to grow higher. This quarter's GDP was almost twice that of last quarter. No signs of a recession yet, so hopefully we've weathered the worst of it. Remember, the expansion and growth of Disney theme parks is based on a growing and thriving American economy and the world's as well..

Movement In The Middle Kingdom...

Things may finally be looking up for Hong Kong Disneyland...

This from the Xinhua News Agency today:

"Hong Kong Disneyland recorded double-digit growth in attendance in the fiscal quarter ending late December, contributing part of the Walt Disney Company's quarterly earnings, the theme park's executive vice president and managing director said Thursday.

Inaugurating a traditional Chinese dragon dance featuring Disney classic Mickey Mouse in celebration of the beginning of the Lunar New Year, Bill Ernest said visitor flow had been steady throughout the quarter with prolonged festival celebrations such as Halloween and Christmas.

Ernest declined to disclose expected attendance to Hong Kong Disneyland but said he expected more visitors in the coming several days as it was only the first day of the Chinese New Year."

And it appears that this may be a good sign:

"There were relatively long queues on Thursday at Hong Kong Disneyland, the smallest one of the world's several Disneyland theme parks."

And you were wondering about the future expansion:

"Officials at the Hong Kong Disneyland had said that it was not putting attendance figures above everything else and that the theme park was expecting help from further expansions to attract visitors."

While it had trouble attracting locals from mainland China, it appears the new steps taken are starting to pay off:

"Many visitors from China's mainland said they liked the style of the Hong Kong Disneyland that mixed eastern and western cultures."

So when summer arrives and "It's A Small World" debuts we can hopefully see the corner being turned for the Mouse's youngest park.

Good News From The Eastern Front...

It seems the 15th anniversary of the Resort has been going quite well down in Paris.

While everything isn't rosy, you can certainly tell that the corner has turned and the resort should be moving to profitability and greater growth over the next few years. Some of the positive signs?

Euro Disney's operating margin was at € 51 million, against last years loss of € 2 million. Too cryptic? Well...

The Resort's revenues increased 12% to € 1,220 million, reflecting volume growth in theme parks attendance and hotel occupancy rates. That's easier to understand. More money came into the resort.

The losses the Park and Resort have suffered were reduced by over half to € 42 million. If the attendance levels continue like this they break even or finally start reporting a profit by next year's annual report. That could cause Iger and Karl Holz( Chairman/CEO of Euro Disney), to move forward with more bold plans for the Resorts next five to ten years.

The attendance increased 13.3% to 14.5 million, against a prior year figure of 12.8 million. Simply put, butts in the seats. This was great news and shows that more and more Europeans are choosing to spend their free time with Mickey.

The hotel occupancy increased 5.8 percent to 89.3 percent. My, how times have changed since 1992...

Not completely out of the woods, but the Mouse Suits can now see the light of day. Hopefully, this will convince the powers that be to have more focused direction on what people expect over there. The stain that the opening of this park had on the Mouse is starting to wash away.

Good news.

Mouse To Discuss House. Finances, That Is...

The Walt Disney Company will discuss the fiscal full year and the results of the current fourth quarter for 2007 this afternoon at 4:15 p.m. EST/7:15 PST through a live audio Webcast.