New York-based 4Kids Entertainment has released its year-end results, and net revenues for 2006 fell almost US$9 million to US$71.8 million, down from US$80.6 million in ’05. The company also chalked up a US$1-million net income loss for the year, compared to a net income gain of US$5.1 million in 2005.
In Q4, the company’s net revenues totalled US$18.3 million, down just over US$5 million from 2005’s holiday quarter take.
CEO Al Kahn called the results ‘disappointing,’ adding that the losses were attributable to decreased licensing revenues from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Yu-Gi-Oh!, and slower ad sales at 4Kids TV.
However, the company is looking forward to a stronger performance in 2007, based on its partnership with Microsoft on video game-based property Viva Pinata and the launch of trading card game/series Chaotic. 4Kids has a 50% stake in the Chaotic website, which is scheduled to go live in May, and has just launched its own trading card company to manage the TCG facet of the property. The company is also hopeful that this month’s release of the TMNT CGI flick will spur more merchandise and video game sales for the property in the coming months