A monopoly game sits under the Hasbro logo during Brand Licensing Europe at ExCel on November 18, 2021 in London, England.
John Keeble | fake images
toy company Hasbro reported a more than 20% hit to its fourth-quarter revenue and issued a pessimistic forecast for 2024 on Tuesday morning. The company's shares plunged about 10% in premarket trading.
Here's how Hasbro performed in the fourth quarter compared to estimates from LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:
- Earnings per share: 38 cents versus the expected 66 cents per share.
- Revenue: $1.29 billion versus the expected $1.36 billion.
During the final three months of 2023, Hasbro lost $1.06 billion, or $7.64 per share, much larger than losses of $128.9 million, or 93 cents, a year earlier. After significant adjustments related to goodwill and intangible assets, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of 38 cents, still well below analyst estimates.
For full year 2023, revenue declined 15% to $1.29 billion, including double-digit sales declines in its consumer products and entertainment segments. Hasbro did see an increase in revenue, however, in its Wizards of the Coast and digital games segment, primarily due to licensing revenue related to “Baldur's Gate 3” and “Monopoly Go.”
The company reduced its inventory by more than 50% compared to the previous year.
“2023 was a productive year for Hasbro, although not without some challenges,” Chief Financial Officer Gina Goetter said in a statement. “As we navigated the current environment, we took aggressive steps to optimize our inventory, reset our cost structure, and focus our portfolio on gaming with eOne's film and television sales.”
Hasbro expects further revenue declines over the next year. In the Wizards of the Coast segment, the company expects a 3% to 5% revenue decline, along with a 7% to 12% impact on the consumer products business. The company expects overall adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of between $925 million and $1 billion.
The company now expects to cut $750 million in costs by the end of 2025, down from a previous goal of $350 million to $400 million.
In December, the toy maker laid off 1,100 employees after already cutting 15% of its workforce at the beginning of the year.
