Alliance Atlantis Communications presented a bullish forecast for the company’s 1999/2000 fiscal year at its annual meeting late last month, although ceo Michael MacMillan says he’s ‘very disappointed in the stock price.’

At press time, Alliance Atlantis AAC.B shares were trading at $14.65, half the value of the year’s high of $29.50. Meantime, its aac.a stocks were trading at $20, off $9.50 from their highest value in the past year.

While analysts and others find the share prices perplexing, MacMillan told the meeting he’s confident prices will respond to the strong financials expected in the coming quarters, especially the quarter ending Sept. 30, which will recognize revenue from program deliveries for aac’s new series. He says aac is charting ‘a clear course’ to increased earnings and earnings per share and committed the company to deliver annual eps growth of 15% to 20%. He would not specify which divisions would combine to deliver that growth, but he expects continued strong performance from the Broadcasting Group – which is ‘poised to acquire’ any broadcast assets which become available – and the Motion Picture Group.

Part of the growth in EBITDA (earnings before specific categories of deductions), MacMillan says, will come from efforts to finalize cost reductions begun with the merger of Alliance and Atlantis last September. As cfo Judson Martin noted, the difficult first year of the merged company, with its ‘destructive process’ of layoffs, which totaled 164 full- and part-time positions, is ‘now behind us.’