Revenue up 5%

Fox Corp. reported higher profits for its second fiscal quarter led by its cable network group.

Net income rose to $300 million, or 48 cents a share, from $8 million, or 1 cent, a year ago. Some of the gains came from unrealized gains from the company's investments in Roku and Stars Group.

Revenue rose 5% to $3.76 billion.

Affiliate revenue was up 7% to $1.436 billion and advertising revenue grew 1% to $2.01 billion.

Ad revenue was down partly because of pre-emptions caused by coverage of the impeachment of Donald Trump and by the absence of UFC programming.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for Fox’s Cable Network Programming Group rose 7% to $556 million as revenues rose 2% to $1.47 billion. Affiliate revenue was up 2% while ad revenues dropped 5%.

Fox’s television group had a loss of $214 million, up from a $14 million loss a year ago because of higher costs for the NFL, the launch of WWE Smackdown and higher programming rights amortization at Fox Entertainment. Revenues were up 5% to $2.17 billion, with affiliate revenues up 18% and ad revenue up 2%.

“Our results reaffirm that Fox Corporation is delivering on the operational and financial objectives that we established less than twelve months ago,” said CEO Lachlan Murdoch. 

“Our brands are exhibiting strength in a competitive marketplace and delivering healthy top-line growth as we continue to invest strategically to expand the reach of our portfolio and further diversify our revenue streams," Murdoch said. "Meanwhile, we are taking a balanced approach to capital allocation, including the return of $500 million to shareholders in the form of share repurchases since our last earnings release. Coming off an incredibly successful Super Bowl LIV and with the buildup to the November Presidential Election ahead of us, we look forward to continuing our momentum through calendar 2020.”