Montreal: Cinar Films president Ron Weinberg is projecting a 54% hike in production investment by the production/distribution company in 1997 to over $65 million, up from $42.9 million for the 12-month period ending Nov. 30, 1996.

The $65 million represents only Cinar’s share of the total production budgets.

Weinberg says a major partnership announcement is in the offing, but the company plans to hold its course in terms of its established programming orientation, non-violent children’s and family entertainment.

‘The thing that we’re focused on is still the educational market. That’s where we see the most natural expansion of the company’s activities. The acquisition of FilmFair was more business as usual, a way to ramp up our library without producing it ourselves,’ he says.

In the u.s., the fcc ruling on educational programming quotas for tv networks could open new doors for the company, says Weinberg. ‘We’re looking forward to a positive impact in respect to getting our programming onto those over-the-air channels where we haven’t been doing business in the past.’

In ’96, Cinar produced 171 half-hours, 94 live-action and 77 animation episodes, says Hasanain Panju, vp and cfo.

Panju says the library stood at 982 half-hours as of Nov. 30. But based on first-quarter deliveries, he says that figure has now topped the 1,000-episode plateau. Revenue for the library rose to $13.9 million in ’96, up from $9 million the previous year. Panju expects at least 30% growth in this area.

New live film action production at Cinar in ’97 includes The Sleep Room, a $9 million four-hour miniseries coproduction with Toronto producer Bernard Zukerman licensed to cbc, and 10 new episodes of both the Nickelodeon series Space Cases and the upscale preschool puppet series Wimzie’s House.

‘We’re very excited about Emily of New Moon and the fact that wic has picked it up for a second season (for 13 additional episodes),’ says Weinberg.

Of the six ’96 animation series in production, five are continuing in ’97. ‘Five out of six isn’t bad. And then on top of that we’re adding three new series.’

Revenue at Cinar in fiscal ’96 increased 38% to $57.9 million, up from $42.1 million last year, while gross profit increased 48% to $15.5 million. Net earnings for the year rose sharply, 61% to $8.5 million, or an eps of $0.78, despite a more than 20% increase in the total number of outstanding shares.

Cinar donated a part of its collection of original animation production materials to the Cinematheque Quebecoise, valued at $8.1 million. This created a tax deduction and a resulting benefit of $0.06 on the $0.78 eps.

In calendar ’96, Cinar led all Canadian entertainment pubcos, closing up at $16.50 after 12 months of trading on the tse.