*Lions Gate boasts strong Q3

vancouver-based Lions Gate Entertainment has had a very good third quarter, ending Sept. 30, reporting a revenue increase of 183% from its 1998 third quarter. The company garnered revenues of $68.7 million, up $44.4 million from $24.3 million in Q3 ’98. Lions Gate’s net earnings for the quarter were $100,000, up from a net loss of $1.3 million for the same period last year, seeing the eps stand at $0.00, up from a -$0.03. ebitda was $6.6 million, up significantly from $464,000 a year earlier.

The company credits much of its third-quarter success to a 138% increase in motion picture revenue, with titles like The Red Violin, Elvis Gratton and The Dinner Game all performing well.

Kicking off the fourth quarter, Mandalay Pictures, in which Lions Gate holds a 45% interest, generated big money at the North American b.o. this month with the release of Sleepy Hollow. The Tim Burton-directed film took in an opening weekend (Nov. 19) gross of more than $30 million.

Meantime, Lions Gate has set up a $20-million credit facility with National Bank of Canada, with which it will build on the success of Dogma and Sleepy Hollow.

‘We intend to utilize this facility to enhance our reputation as one of North America’s premiere distributors and producers of independent feature films,’ says Roman Doroniuk, president and coo of Lions Gate.

*CanWest earnings up 7%

CanWest Global Communications reports a 7% rise in net earnings to $146.1 million for fiscal 1999.

The international broadcaster, with holdings in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, says its combined revenue increased 7% over last year to $882 million for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 1999.

Combined operating profit before amortization was down 10% to $265 million. This reflects start-up losses on the development side, plus reduced earnings from the broadcaster’s New Zealand operations.

‘We are satisfied with the results for fiscal 1999 given losses in our start-up operations and given that 50% of our [South Pacific] operations suffered from the downturn in the Asia markets,’ says CanWest ceo Leonard Asper, in a statement.

Earnings figures included a $15-million gain on a break fee in CanWest’s attempted acquisition of 68% interest in NetStar Communications and a one-time special dividend from Ulster tv, in which the broadcaster holds a 30% stake. Costs of carrying CanWest’s 44% holdings in WIC Western International are also included in the results, but not CanWest’s share of earnings from wic.

*Nelvana reports growth

Nelvana’s financials for the third quarter of fiscal 1999 include a total revenue increase of 12% to $22.3 million from $19.9 million in the same period in 1998. Nelvana says the higher revenue follows strong gains in merchandising and publishing and moderate gains in production and distribution revenue.

Net earnings also rose 12%, hitting $2.64 million, up from $2.36 million in ’98. Third-quarter eps rose 9% to $0.36 in ’99 from $0.33 last year.

The company’s year-to-date results include a 14% rise in net income to $5 million, up from $4.4 million in 1998.

Nelvana’s shares (ntv on the tse) are trading at about $19. Its 52-week high/low is $31.25/$18.

In other news, Nelvana is now producing 13 half-hours of the animated series Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, set to air on Teletoon and Nick Jr. in the u.s. The series is based on the book series by Betty and Michael Paraskevas. Also in production are 13 new episodes of each of Little Bear (for Nick Jr.) and Franklin, (for Nick Jr. and Family Channel). Nelvana is also doing 13 new eps of George and Martha, to air on ytv and hbo.

*Imax profits down 54%

Imax Corp. reports a 54% decrease in third-quarter profit to us$3.2 million ($4.8 million) from us$7.1 million ($10.5 million) over the same period last year.

The giant-format company saw earnings per share drop to us$0.11 ($0.16) in the quarter ending Sept. 30 from us$0.24 ($0.35) a year earlier.

Profits over nine months also dropped to us$7.5 million ($10.9 million) from us$17.5 million ($25.7 million) last year.

‘Based on our scheduled theatre system deliveries for the remainder of 1999, we are comfortable that our earnings for the year will meet consensus analyst expectations,’ says Richard Gelfond, Imax cochairman and co-ceo, in a statement.

During the quarter, the company signed contracts to deliver nine imax theatre systems valued at us$28.9 million ($42.4 million), including two theatres in Shanghai, China, one in Egypt and an imax 3D theatre in Boston, Mass., the company reports.

Revenues decreased 4% in the third quarter to us$42.5 million ($62.4 million), which Imax says is partly due to fewer system deliveries in 1999 than 1998.

Meanwhile, film revenues increased 108% to us$11 million ($16.1 million) based primarily on an increase in post-production work and growth in film distribution revenues associated with

T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous.