In this report we take a look at the activities and game plans of Canada’s public production companies.

In this report:

Alliance p. 40

Atlantis p. 42

Cinar p. 39

Coscient p. 40

Devine p. 42

Greenlight p. 43

Keystone p. 43

Malofilm p. 37

Nelvana p. 38

Paragon p. 40

For the first quarter of 1996 ending Oct. 31, Coscient Group sales grew almost 7% to $13 million while net earnings increased 159% to $301,885 or $0.03 per share.

Following the 1994 acquisition of Productions sda and Allegro Films and their related operations, Coscient’s consolidated sales jumped from $27.2 million in ’94 to $69.7 million in ’95, making the company Quebec’s largest tv producer and distributor.

Coscient also has a 35% interest in Cite-Amerique, a film and tv producer currently in production on Margeurite Volant, an 11-hour, $11.2 million 18th century conquest saga slated to air on Radio-Canada in the fall.

Coscient chairman Yves Moquin, who hails from a successful career in magazine publishing, says the company is projecting revenues of $80 million in ’96 and earnings of $2 million or an eps in the $0.18 or $0.19 range.

Cactus Animation, the new subsidiary, is up and running.

Andre Belanger, an animation producer who has worked on the Spirou series (in association with Astral), and with Cinar, has been named president/general manager. Some 15 staffers are being hired.

Coscient has hammered out an animation coproduction agreement with Ellipse Animation of France. The deal calls for the production of three series per year over three years with cumulative budgets in the order of $90 million to $100 million. Projects include adaptations of popular European literary properties such as Bob Morane, Fenec and Blake and Mortimer based on a French comic book strip.

sda is in development on Omerta 2, the critically acclaimed underworld drama series.

New directions for sda include major documentary series and tv movies for coproduction with European networks and producers, says Moquin.

Allegro, an excellent asset according to various investment brokers, is currently shooting Jackals, a $22 million action-thriller picked up for world distribution by Triumph Films.

‘International sales accounted for 30% of (Coscient’s) total sales in ’95, but this figure will rise to 53% in ’96, and higher in the years ahead,’ he says.

Coscient is listed on the Montreal and Vancouver Stock Exchanges.

On the issue of liquidity, Moquin points out that over one million Coscient shares traded hands in the past two or three weeks and buyers included institutions. Of the 2.5 million shares held by non-management, two million are held by institutional investors, he adds. The situation was evolving at a fast pace at press time.

Coscient is preparing a $7.5 million private placement with Caisse de depot et de placement’s participation. Moquin says the Caisse is a welcome member on the board.

Moquin says Coscient’s current stock value is out of step with revenues and new activity, but a soon-to-be-finalized strategic alliance, in addition to financial and production developments, should allow the company to take a closer look at a public offering as early as this fall.

Before any public offering takes place, Moquin says Coscient stock will rise to $3.50.