Investors extracted their pound of flesh yesterday from small TV production house Beyond International (BYI) which issued a profit warning on Monday, well after the market had closed.
The company told the ASX in a short statement that changes to the production schedule of its hit TV show Mythbusters would mean a lower profit for the current financial year.
Beyond said its full-year net profit after tax for the 2014 financial year would be down as much as 20% on the June 30, 2013 year.
"As a result of changes to the production cycle of Mythbusters, the deferral of projects expected to commence in June, the non-renewal of projects that occurred in FY13 and a number of one-off restructuring costs, Beyond expects net profit after tax for FY14 to be approximately 15 to 20 per cent below that achieved in FY13," the company said in the statement.
San Francisco-based Mythbusters is syndicated worldwide through Discovery Channel and screens on local free-to-air networks on the SBS 2 and 7mate channels.
"Previous seasons of Mythbusters have typically had a production cycle of 30 episodes produced across 18 months. The latest season, currently in production, has changed to 13 episodes across 12 months," Beyond said in its announcement.
And this plus more strained times at client broadcasters have hit the company hard, forcing budget and cost cuts.
"Due to budgetary constraints at several client broadcasters, production projects expected to commence in the last quarter of FY14 have now been deferred to FY15," the statement said.
BYI 1Y – Mythbusters bust Beyond’s 2014
Beyond said it had also incurred restructuring costs in its home entertainment and digital divsions, but issued a positive forecast for the 2015 financial year.
"While trading has come off the highs of FY13, expectations for FY15 remain positive with net profit after tax forecast to be 5 per cent to 10 per cent higher than FY2014 provided that current market conditions continue," the company said.
Investors took the shares with a big stick yesterday morning, sending them down more than 17% at the start. They later recovered, then fell to end at the day’s low of $1.16.
