Herald sings with Jurassic Park Christmas sales
HERALD Holdings, in the spotlight because of its involvement with the blockbuster Jurassic Park movie, yesterday reported profits up 17 per cent to $94.5 million for the year ended March 31 from $80.7 million a year earlier.
Earnings per share fell 5.9 per cent to 16.13 cents from 16.85 cents, the result of an issue of 30 million shares to institutional investors in January.
Turnover improved by 15.9 per cent to $986.2 million from $850.6 million.
A final dividend of 7.5 cents was declared.
Herald director Robert Dorfman said the company's tape-head division had produced higher profits.
Turnover and prospects were encouraging with the move into thin-hard disk heads, he said.
The toy division should do considerably better this year, as Herald has been awarded contracts by US firm Hasbro to make Jurassic Park action figures.
Box office sales of the movie in the United States have already topped US$300 million, ranking it behind only E.T. as Hollywood's most successful offering.
Mr Dorfman said Jurassic Park merchandise sales had been robust and the company's order position looked very good.
Strong Christmas sales were expected as Jurassic Park products should be monster hits, he said.
Mr Dorfman said the toy division, which accounted for about 40 per cent of annual turnover, had a weaker performance.
Turnover and profits dropped primarily because sales of its popular GI Joe action figures had been strong in fiscal 1992 due to the Gulf War.
