NBC Expects Sales to Increase 25%, Mostly From Ads

NBC Universal expects its operating profit to rise 29% and revenue to rise 25% in 2005, with more modest revenue growth going forward, Chief Executive Bob Wright said Tuesday.

Wright said he expected the company, a unit of General Electric Co. created by the merger of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, to post an operating profit of $3.1 billion in 2005, up from its expected 2004 operating profit of $2.4 billion.

He expects revenue to rise to $15 billion in 2005, up from an estimated $12 billion in 2004. Some 65% of revenue in 2005 will come from advertising, he said.

“We were able to combine two companies that are performing very well” in creating entertainment content, Wright said at a Goldman Sachs media and telecommunications investment conference.

The company’s “goal is to be growing at something in the high-single-digit range,” Wright said, referring to revenue growth beyond 2005. “From everything we’re seeing now, that seems to be very feasible.”

NBC Universal also sees opportunity in developing its vast film and television libraries into programming for Europe and Asia, similar to the dedicated movie channels on U.S. television, Wright said.

“We do want to be more aggressive there,” Wright said of NBC Universal’s international business. “It’s one of the big focuses of ours. It’s one of the nearer-term focuses for us.”