Time Inc. Profit Rises in 4th Quarter and Year

By KATHRYN HARRIS

Jan. 30, 1985 12 AM PT

Time Inc. reported net income of $66.69 million for the three months ended last Dec. 31, up 21% from the same period a year earlier. The New York-based media conglomerate reported fourth-quarter revenue of $851.02 million, compared to $763.12 million a year earlier.

For the year, Time reported net income of $216.40 million, up from $168.93 million, and revenue of $3.07 billion, up from $2.72 billion.

Time’s video group, which includes Home Box Office Inc. and American Television & Communications Corp., posted a decrease in income from continuing operations before taxes for the fourth quarter and the year. The unit reported that income from continuing operations fell to $48.2 million in the quarter from $54.2 million a year earlier.

In response to a question, Time spokesman Ed Adler said the results included an expense of up to $10 million for equipment designed to scramble HBO’s satellite-fed signals in an effort to curb thefts of pay-TV programming.

With that expense factored in, several analysts said the unit’s results were “OK” or “not so bad,” because they had anticipated a decline in profits due to HBO’s acknowledged problems with a slowdown in subscriber growth and increased programming costs.

Adler declined to comment on analysts’ estimates that HBO profits declined as much as 20% to 25% for the year. He noted that Time does not break out that unit’s results.

Time’s magazine group reported that fourth-quarter income from continuing operations rose to $74.7 million from $65.2 million a year earlier. The books and information-services unit posted fourth-quarter income of $17.7 million, compared to a loss of $6.5 million a year earlier.

Corporate and other expenses rose sharply for the fourth quarter, to $23 million from $13.8 million a year earlier. Adler said the company experienced higher unallocated corporate overhead, high foreign currency losses and slightly higher losses from ventures in which Time holds less than a 50% interest.

Those ventures include Time’s one-third stake in Tri-Star Pictures, a new motion picture company, and the USA cable-TV service.