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Navarre: Funimation Exceeds Q1 Expectations in Sales (Updated)

Navarre Corporation, the corporate parent of the anime licensing and distribution company Funimation, announced its better-than-expected financial results for the first three months of the 2010 fiscal year ending on June 30, 2009. Navarre Chief Executive Officer Cary Deacon partly credited the results to "Funimation's stronger than anticipated sales of anime DVDs as well as a US$1.75 million agency fee resulting from a royalty advance paid for the licensing of Dragon Ball videogame rights to Bandai."

Navarre's publishing segment, which includes Funimation, Encore, and BCI, had net quarterly sales of US$24.9 million, compared to US$27.4 million in the same period last year. However, Navarre noted that it is shutting down its BCI budget video division this year; BCI had "nominal sales" this past quarter, compared to US$4.4 million in the same period last year. Operating income for the segment rose from US$3.4 million to US$6.1 million year-to-year. (Navarre does not normally report Funimation's financial figures separately from BCI and Encore.)

As a whole, Navarre had 5% less net sales year-to-year at US$134.3 million, but it also reported higher quarterly net income at US$4.2 million.

Update: In Thursday's earnings conference call, Deacon said that Funimation has about 60 properties, of which about 20% are "A" properties. He singled out Dragon Ball as Funimation's "leading franchise" and also named Afro Samurai. He expects that Afro Samurai: Resurrection's recent Emmy nomination will help future sales. He noted that although the retail DVD market has been weak industrywide, Funimation's sales were consistent this quarter.