Ventura Entertainment Reports Loss, Sale of Assets

Ventura Entertainment Group Ltd., a struggling North Hollywood film and television producer, said it lost $2.8 million in the second quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $704,754 in the quarter that ended Jan. 31, 1990.

Ventura Entertainment, which recently changed its fiscal year-end to June 30 from Oct. 31, said its revenue for the recent quarter grew by a factor of more than 13 to $1.85 million from $134,578 in the equivalent year-ago quarter.

For the six months that ended Dec. 31, Ventura Entertainment lost $3.71 million on revenue of $9 million, compared with a loss of $399,798 on revenue of $3.37 million for the six months that ended Jan. 31, 1990.

Ventura Entertainment attributed some of the loss to a $700,000 writeoff of investments in its Ventura Music Group unit, which the company said it made as part of a change in business strategy, changing the unit to a record label from a production company.

Separately, Ventura Motion Picture Group, a partly owned subsidiary of Ventura Entertainment whose stock is publicly traded, said its loss widened to $191,068 on no revenue in the quarter that ended Dec. 31 from a loss of $69,258 on no revenue in the quarter that ended Jan. 31, 1990. For the six months that ended Dec. 31, Ventura Motion Picture’s loss grew to $317,999 from a loss of $73,745 in the equivalent year-earlier quarter. The company had no revenue in either six-month period.

Ventura Entertainment also announced that after the end of the second quarter, it entered into agreements to sell its studio in Utah and 93% of its Ventura Music Group unit.

Ventura Entertainment said it expects to close the sale of its Ventura Media Center in Orem, Utah, within 40 days in a deal that will include both a cash payment and the assumption of a mortgage on the property, said Roger Lefkon, president and chief operating officer of Ventura Entertainment. Ventura did not identify the potential buyer.

Ventura Entertainment also said it expects to sell 93% of its Ventura Music Group subsidiary for an undisclosed amount of cash to a group represented by financier Stephen Swid. Lefkon said the deal would allow Ventura Entertainment to recover its $1.8-million investment in the unit.

Also, Ventura Entertainment said it temporarily reduced the “exercise price” of its class A warrants from $14 to $6 and its class B warrants from $16 to $6. This means that by paying the exercise price of $6, holders of the class A warrant will be able to receive two shares of common stock and one class B warrant. Holders of the class B warrants will be able to pay $6 and receive two shares of common stock. The lower prices will be in effect until 5 p.m. April 24.