Lorimar Reports a Sharp Rise in 2nd-Quarter Net

Lorimar Inc., the Culver City-based producer of such television programs as “Dallas,” “Falcon Crest” and “Knots Landing,” said second-quarter earnings rose 27% to $5.7 million on a 16% increase in revenue.

Revenue for the fiscal 1985 quarter, which ended Jan. 26, hit $98 million.

The company said the strong second-quarter showing resulted from revenue gains in all of its business segments.

Sales rose from increased syndication of its television shows, from the foreign release of the movie “The Last Starfighter” that it produced, and from growth in its newly acquired Karl/Lorimar Home Video, which produces and distributes “alternative” videos such as Jan Fonda’s Workout series.

The second quarter included a one-time expense of $2.6 million, which the company said it paid to settle all claims with a German partnership that was set up in the late 1970s to help Lorimar finance film production. Without that extraordinary item, Lorimar’s second-quarter earnings would have increased 84% to $8.3 million.

The latest results push the company’s earnings for the first six months of fiscal 1985 to $23.4 million, an increase of 175% over the first half of 1984. Revenue for the period rose 32% to $197 million from a year earlier.

The first and second quarter included revenue from the syndication of “Dallas,” which Lorimar was first able to sell for reruns last September. The second quarter also included advance sales for the syndication of “Knots Landing,” which will be available for rerun by independent TV stations this September.