Live Entertainment’s Loss Narrows to $1.54 million

Live Entertainment Inc., a Van Nuys distributor and retailer of videocassettes, said its second-quarter loss narrowed to $1.54 million from a loss of $13.4 million a year earlier.

The company said its sales for the three months ended June 30 jumped 56%, to $67 million from $43 million in the previous year. Live said its smaller loss was also due to better operating profits and reduction in interest expense as a result of the financial restructuring of Live, which was completed in March.

For the six months that ended June 30, Live’s loss totaled $2.27 million, down 85% from a loss of $14.7 million in the same period a year ago. Sales for the first half of this year were $124.5 million, up 13% from $110.6 million a year earlier.

Anthony J. Scotti, Live’s chairman of the board, said he expected results for the rest of the year to be negatively impacted because the company was unable to buy products for release in 1993 due to its financial difficulties.