MGM Net Falls 85% in Quarter

MGM/UA Entertainment Co., blaming a disappointing summer at the box office, said Thursday that its earnings in the first fiscal quarter plunged to $1.7 million, down 85% from $10.96 million for the same period a year earlier.

The Culver City-based company reported operating revenue of $170.86 million for the three months ended Nov. 30, down 11% from $192.18 million a year earlier.

MGM said that its theatrical distribution unit generated revenue of $36.41 million, down 48% from the previous year, but that its television distribution business reported $48.45 million in operating revenue, up 4%.

MGM reduced its first-quarter operating expenses to $155.45 million, down from $160.22 million the previous year.

Pay television and home video generated $34.92 million in operating revenue, down slightly from $36.44 million reported in the same quarter a year earlier.

In a prepared statement, MGM/UA Chairman Frank Rothman said:

“We enter the second quarter of fiscal 1985 with a strong performance from our Christmas release, ‘2010.’ . . . We are in a phase of stepped-up theatrical motion picture production and are confident in our strong release schedule throughout the remainder of fiscal 1985 and into 1986.”