While it ended with an $8.7 million loss in the second quarter, the company attributed that loss to a restructuring charge primarily related to the closing of the company’s New York office.
Excluding that charge, Playboy’s net income was $400,000 for the quarter. In the same period last year, the company reported a net loss of $3.2 million.
One bright spot, Playboy said, was its print/digital group, which reported an increase in second-quarter segment income to $2.3 million from $100,000 in the prior year period. Revenue for the group was $28.3 million in the quarter, down $3.9 million from second quarter 2008.
Primarily as a result of a double issue, Playboy magazine’s circulation revenue grew 16 percent in the second quarter to $12.9 million compared to the same period last year.
“Efforts to better manage our cost structure while improving our customers’ experience will continue,” Playboy CEO Scott Flanders said. “I believe this company has taken many of the right steps in outsourcing or exiting unprofitable businesses and that those which remain are critical to our future.”
Playboy said the global economic slowdown has pared royalty payments in its licensing business, but it is optimistic about expanding into new regions, including Latin America.
Flanders said he expects the licensing segment to show year-over-year revenue and income growth in the 2009 second half, fueled by a strong fourth quarter.
