Projo Biz Blog

Pawtucket-based Hasbro, the nation's second-largest toy maker, said Monday first-quarter profit fell 47 percent, hurt by the stronger dollar and retailers cutting back on their inventory levels, but results met analyst expectations.

Profit for the three months ended March 29 fell to $19.7 million, or 14 cents per share, from $37.5 million, or 25 cents per share.

Revenue fell 12 percent to $621.3 million from $704.2 million. Excluding the stronger dollar, revenue fell about 6 percent.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted, on average, a profit of 14 cents on revenue of $644.9 million.

"We expected revenues to decline in the first quarter due to economic challenges, the impact of foreign exchange and retailers reducing inventory levels," said Chief Executive Brian Goldner in a statement.

In the U.S., Star Wars, Playskool, Nerf and board game sales were strong, but sales of Littlest Pet Shop, Transformers and Marvel brands declined. Internationally, Star Wars and Nerf sales were strong while Transformers and My Little Pony sales fell.

The first quarter is the seasonally smallest for toy makers. Last week, Mattel reported a loss for the quarter ended March 31 as revenue fell 15 percent to $785.6 million.
Hasbro expects results to improve as the year goes on, since they have products tied to several movies this year, including "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" and "X-men Origins: Wolverine."

"Based on the strength of our product line, we believe the two most recent quarters will prove to have been the most challenging for Hasbro in this economic cycle," CFO David Hargreaves said in a statement.

 Tags  Brian Goldner Hasbro Pawtucket RI

---