Jakks Pacific reports Q1 adjusted EPS ($1.09) vs. (40c) last year

Reports revenue $90.1M vs. $107.5M last year. “The beginning of the year at JAKKS is always our smallest shipping quarter and is focused on taking stock of the just concluded holiday season, solidifying our full-year plans and development work towards longer-term opportunities,” said Stephen Berman, Chairman and CEO of JAKKS Pacific, “and the quarter just concluded was very active on all three of those fronts. For the past two years we have had the added benefit of a robust film slate layering on top of our strong core business. Last year, we were shipping products to support what proved to be two of the year’s largest grossing films, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Little Mermaid. Without that new news in Spring 2024, from a shipping and retail sales perspective, we experienced lower levels of both as anticipated. We also continued to see weakening demand for products from a Q4 2023 film release. We supported our retail partners in funding markdowns to move that stock as well as addressing cancelled reorders for which we had built inventory. Unfortunately, these types of situations happen in our business, and we have found it is best to address them head-on and move on focusing on the fall season where the majority of the business is done. We are very excited about what is ahead – inclusive of our supporting two of the bigger film releases planned for Q4 of this year, the traction we are getting on some new 2025 initiatives as well as our relentless efforts to expand our international network. Separately, we took the opportunity to retire our Preferred Shares at a negotiated discount to the contractual valuation. These shares were the last balance sheet artifact from our 2019 restructuring. For the first time in many years, there are no lenders or other parties restricting the common stockholders’ claim over the entire enterprise and its financial results. We consider this a fantastic starting point as we move forward with no competing interests to the goal of maximizing long-term shareholder value.”