Movie Gallery reports $80 million loss in six weeks

By Cindy Spielvogel -- Video Business, 1/4/2008

JAN. 4 | Movie Gallery is reporting continuing losses during its bankruptcy period, according to filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and Securities and Exchange Commission.

For the first six weeks since the bankruptcy was filed, Oct. 16-Dec. 2, the company reported a net loss of $80.7 million. Of that total, $53.5 million came from Hollywood Video stores and $27.2 million from stores under the Movie Gallery brand.

However, the losses were largely attributed to the earliest weeks of the bankruptcy, Oct. 16-Nov. 4, when the company was in the process of disposing of unprofitable stores.

For the last month, Nov. 4-Dec. 2, the company showed net income of $36.4 million, representing $41.9 million in net income from Hollywood stores and a $5.5 million net loss for Movie Gallery-branded stores.

Total revenue for the six-week period was $295.3 million, broken down as $207.5 million from Hollywood stores and $87.8 million for Movie Gallery-branded stores. For the last month, the revenue was $178 million, $126.8 million from Hollywood and $51.2 million from Movie Gallery-branded stores.

The company also reported it has paid almost $2.2 million to professionals including turnaround specialist Alvarez & Marsal, which alone has received more than $1.3 million to date.

Company officials reported to have sold stock in recent days, according to SEC filings, include executive VP and chief marketing officer Mark Loyd and executive VP, secretary and general counsel Todd Page, along with directors John Jump and James Lockwood.