Videos, Merchandise Boost Disney Profit

Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday reported a 16% rise in fiscal second-quarter earnings, with video sales of animated movies and consumer product sales offsetting lower theme park attendance and box office bombs.

During the January-to-March period, the company posted a record profit of $248.4 million, or 45 cents a share, compared to $214.9 million, 39 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 12% to $2.28 billion, from $2.03 billion a year earlier, also a record.

For the first half of its fiscal year, the Burbank-based company’s revenue rose 13% to $5.0 billion, from $4.42 billion. Profit was $617.0 million, or $1.13 a share, more than four times the $118.4 million, 22 cents a share, earned during the year-earlier period.

The earlier six-months figures included reductions in earnings of $371 million, reflecting onetime events. The largest charge, of $271 million, went to pay construction costs and other pre-opening expenses for new facilities, mostly at the troubled Euro Disney theme park in France.