Madison Square Garden misses Wall Street's 4Q earnings forecasts, but shrinks net loss thanks to bigger crowds

The Madison Square Garden Co (NYSE:MSG), the US sports and entertainment holding company that owns Madison Square Garden Arena and the New York Knicks, missed Wall Street’s quarterly profit estimates but saw its losses shrink in the fiscal fourth quarter as it booked bigger audiences for events at its iconic collection of venues.

For its fiscal fourth quarter, MSG reported a net loss of US$46.1mln or US$1.94 per share, which was far less than the loss of US$84.28mln or US$3.58 per share recorded in the year-ago quarter.

Its earnings results fell short of the projections of Wall Street analysts who had penciled in a loss of US$1.67 per share

Its revenue, meanwhile, came in at US$318mln, which exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts who had projected Madison Square Garden would see sales of US$286.2mln.

“We had a solid fiscal 2018, driven by the performance of our bookings business, the Christmas Spectacular and sponsorships,” said CEO Jim Dolan in a statement.

Dolan said the company is positioning itself for growth as it has unveiled plans to build two venues – called MSG Sphere – in Las Vegas and London and also announced the exploration of a possible separation of its entertainment and sports businesses.

For the year, Madison Square Garden generated revenues of about US$1.6bn and reported net income of US$141.6mln or US$5.94 per share.

Revenues from MSG Entertainment rose 47% from the year-ago quarter to US$185.6mln in the three months until the close of June while revenue from MSG Sports fell 26% to US$132.5mln over the same period. The slowdown on the sports side was blamed on a lack of playoff related revenues as well as the absence of US$15mln in non-recurring NHL and NBA distributions.

The company hosts an array of events at its theaters and entertainment venues, which also include Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre, The Chicago Theatre, the Forum in Inglewood, California and the Wang Theatre in Boston. Other MSG properties include a number of famous sports franchises, such as the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and the New York Liberty.

The company was set up in 2010 when Cablevision spun off the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Madison Square Garden, MSG Network and additional assets as a public company.

Contact Ellen Kelleher at [email protected]

Story by ProactiveInvestors