Barcelona-based Private Media Group reported a 14 percent drop in sales during the three-month period ending on March 31.
The publicly-traded company reported a drop of 1 million euros to 6.4 million euros for the three-month period for a loss of 500,000 euros compared to a profit of about 700,000 euros a year earlier.
The company reported that DVD sales decreased by about 500,000 euros or about 12 percent to 3.6 million euros. Private blamed the drop in sales to the fewer number of titles it released during the period compared to a year earlier.
The company today said it is ramping up production to “optimal” levels and expects to see an increase in sales to levels just before 2005.
Magazine sales for Private also decreased by 57 percent to about 500,000 euros, also due to decreased production over year-ago numbers.
One of the company’s bright spots was its broadcasting division which saw improved numbers, largely due to increases in its video-on-demand services by 100,000 euros to about 900,000 euros.
“During our second quarter of 2005, we signed an agreement with Playboy TV Latin America for the operation and distribution of Private-branded TV channels in Latin America. With this new agreement we are significantly increasing our broadcasting presence in the region,” said Private Media Chief Operating Officer Johan Gillborg.
“During the second half of 2005, we have also seen evidence of an emerging new source of significant future profits in the True Video on Demand market in Europe, Revenues from our first distributor of this type of platform have increased steadily during 2005 and … we have reason to believe that our revenue will continue to grow in line with the forecasted subscriber growth on this new VOD platform.”
