Madison Square Garden Results Top Expectations

Madison Square Garden Co.'s profit and revenue growth easily topped Wall Street expectations in its June quarter, as the company moves toward the separation of its media business from its sports and entertainment businesses.

Shares of the company gained 2.8% to $78.57 a share in premarket trading.

Madison Square Garden's media business includes MSG regional sports-TV networks. Its sports business includes the New York Knicks and Rangers, and its entertainment business organizes and hosts live events in venues such as Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden.

In late March, the company filed a registration statement to separate its sports and entertainment operations from its media business. MSG itself was spun out of Cablevision Systems Corp. in 2010.

For the quarter ended June 30, Madison Square Garden reported a profit of $45.7 million, or 60 cents a share, compared with $11.6 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 4.4% to $387.9 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters recently forecast earnings of 39 cents a share on revenue of $356 million.

Revenue in MSG's entertainment business jumped 65% in the quarter to $93.2 million, helped by the first year of a spring-themed show, an insurance recovery related to lost Radio City Christmas Spectacular revenues in 2012 due to superstorm Sandy.

The sports segment's revenue grew 3.1% to $161.6 million, boosted by higher league distributions and professional sports teams' sponsorship.

Revenue at MSG Media fell 13% to $153.2 million, reflecting the sale of its Fuse network.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 20, 2015 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)

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